Seasons of Love
by H2O Angel
Summary: UPDATE! Mark and Tara's HONEYMOON! What happened in Maui? Well, when you throw in some yuppie scum and karaoke yes, karaoke, anything can!
1. 1

AN: IT'S BACK!!! *laughs manically* 

Formerly "Facing," I rewrote a lot of it, added some new scenes, and the like. Even though I said it was gonna be up around Christmas, I decided to wait to see _Rent_ last weekend before I started posting this back up. (It was so awesome. Props to Brian Gligor, who did an outstanding interpretation of Mark!)

Once again, I own nothing, except for Tara and Dave.

****

Seasons Of Love

Mark Cohen focused his camera, and began filming the street below. He did this sort of thing from time to time. Capturing life unscripted somehow worked out best for him. Besides, the street had to be more interesting than anything that was going on in the loft.

"June 14," he began narrating, "the precursor to the hot New York summer."

He paused for a second. He remembered the events of last summer. And Angel. Mark remembered the difference that that man made in their lives.

A knock jolted him from the past and back into the loft. He sighed while pausing the camera. It was probably Collins or Roger and Mimi. That lock hadn't been working properly since the great New Year's Break-in Bash. Mostly it was because they had to break the thing off, but also because Benny couldn't pay to fix it or buy a new one. The divorce cost him a lot.

A harsher knock came. "I'm coming!" Mark opened the door, finding not one of the loft mates, but a woman.

"Hi," she said, "I'm sorry to bother you but.well, I should explain. The name's Tara Wendko. I just moved in downstairs."

"Oh. Um, Mark. Mark Cohen."

"Nice to meet you." She quickly grabbed his hand and shook it. "Anyway, my hot plate just.I don't know, burned out on me, and I was wondering if-"

"Sure, you can use ours." This sounded pretty familiar.

"Great!" Tara smiled. "I'll be back in a minute."

"Do you need any help?"

"No thanks! I'll take care of it!"

Mark watched her head downstairs. God, she was good-looking.

He realized why the whole ordeal seemed so familiar. It was pretty much the same way Roger and Mimi had met. Of course, knowing his luck, Tara would end up having a boyfriend/girlfriend.

Shit, his camera was still on. He turned it off and removed it from its place in the window.

Tara appeared at the door with a box of food. With someone helping her. Great.

"We can't thank you enough," Tara said, putting the box on the floor.

"Goes against my notion that all New Yorkers are selfish, cruel human beings," her male companion added. 

"Dave!"

Mark picked up his stuff. "I guess.I'll be leaving you two alone, then."

Tara looked at Mark, then at Dave, and then back to Mark. "You think he's my boyfriend?"

He swallowed. "Well, uh-I-"

She laughed. "Dave, the gracious New Yorker is Mark Cohen. Mark, this is my younger brother Dave."

"By five minutes," Dave said. Thank God. Twins.

"So, Mark," Tara started, "What are your room mates like?"

He didn't ask how she knew that he lived with other people. "Fine. I mean, they're not all bad, but it does seem a bit crowded at times."

"I'm warning you now, my sister has a thing for the intimate details about people."

Tara was pouring batter on the plate. "It's not as bad as sounds. I like writing about people."

"You're a writer?" Mark asked. 

"Obviously. I do short fiction pieces, but they have a grain of truth."

"I paint," Dave said. "It's more fun. And you are.?"

"I'm a filmmaker."

"Really? Have you done anything?" Tara asked.

"Yeah. _Today 4 U_. It's about my roommates' life last year."

"Wow. That's so great." Tara smiled. "I just realized we have something in common."

"What?"

"We portray life as we see it. The events that we find important, we record for others to see."

"My sister the philosopher." Dave noticed Mark's camera. "You can film us if you want."

"Um, no, that's okay." Now that was weird. He hardly ever passed up the opportunity to film something. Maybe it was Tara. She seemed so different from the other girls he had met before. 

"Mark, you want one of these?"

"Huh?" Tara's question jolted him out of his daze.

"I asked you if you wanted one of these." She held up what seemed like a very thin pancake. She saw his confused look and laughed. "You have no idea what this is, right?" He nodded. "Try it, it's good."

"Uh-oh. Tara's going into mother mode."

"David, just because I'm encouraging him to try new things does not mean I'm turning motherly."

Dave rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure. Look, I'm going back downstairs, okay?"

"Sure, have fun all alone. " Tara waved a hand toward the door.

Turning her attention back to Mark, she smiled and said, "Where were we?"

"You going to tell me what that thing was and then force-feed me it."

"It's a French pancake. Our mom used to make these all the time."

"Oh." He noticed a sad look in her eyes. "Did something happen?" Mark was hoping-no; make that praying- that it wasn't AIDS.

"She died when we were sixteen. Breast cancer. Our dad killed himself a year later, and we've been on our own ever since."

"I know how that feels." He remembered the stunned look Roger had worn for about a month after April died, and how Collins was after Angel.

"Dave's been living with me for about two years now. He can't really look after himself."

Mark was about to say something when the door opened. "Hey, Collins."

Tara looked at the plate. "Oh, well, um. I'd better get going." Mark helped her put away the food. "Thanks," she said.

"No problem."

"Well," She paused at the door. "I guess I'll be seeing you."

Collins watched the filmmaker go into his room and flop onto his mattress. "Who was that?"

"Some girl who lives downstairs." Mark closed his eyes and thought about the night's events. 

It could be, for the first time in almost two years, he felt like he was in love.

***

PS: I'm sorry this was so long! Review! Will except flames to comfort my freezing fingers!!!!!!!


	2. 2

AN: Okay, a bit shorter than last time, but it moves the plot along.

Hey thanks for those of you who reviewed! I'm glad you liked Tara.

"The abyss…Will he get out of there alive?"

Onto to Chapter 2...

Tara had been avoiding Mark for about a week now. He had run into her once since that first night, she had acted strangely.

"Ask her out, okay?"

Mark stopped filming. "Why should I?"

Roger plucked out an E chord. "You like her. The worst could be that she's taken." Running his fingers through his long brown hair, he started with that familiar tune-up.

"Don't tell me that."

Roger stopped mid-way through "Musetta's Waltz." "What? Just go for it, Mark. No day but today."

Mark glared at him. Ever since Mimi's miraculous recovery last Christmas, Roger had become more optimistic. Old Roger wouldn't have given a damn about Mark's romantic woes. New Roger was seeing the brighter side of things. Damn those Life Support meetings. 

But the man did have a point…

Mark found himself standing outside of the Wendko apartment the next day. Right before he could knock, the door opened. "Mark?"

"Tara, can I- can I talk to you?"

"Sure, come on in."

The place was covered with newspapers, and paint was flung all over the walls. "Did I come at a bad time?"

"Not really. Dave and I trying to brighten this place up a bit. Can you believe that the landlord thought I was nuts?"

"With Benny, anything's possible."

"So, Mark, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well-I was, um, wondering-" Jesus, he was never good at this- "I was wondering if you wanted to, uh, go out some time?"

"What about that roommate of yours?"

Mark stared at her, and then realized what she was talking about. "You think Collins and I-"

"Uh, yeah. Unless you got a girl hidden up there."

He started laughing. "We're not together."

"Really?"

"You're right about Collins being gay. I'm not, though."

"No girl?"

"Well, there's Mimi, but she's with my friend Roger."

"Well." She smiled. "Since we have that cleared up, my answer is yes. I would love to go out with you."

"Really? Wow-thanks. I mean, when-"

Tara kissed him. "I don't care. Let's just see where this goes."

Meanwhile, Joanne was waiting for Maureen to wake up. The two had been at the Clit Club the night before, and Maureen…well, Maureen had a few too many and was flirting with everyone in sight. Joanne had to push the girl out of the door.

"One time too many…" she grumbled. Her cell phone rang. "Hello? Steve? Yeah, I've got that case here. I'm looking over it as we speak." She looked over into the bedroom. One time too many…

***

"Tara? You know your boyfriend's roommate?" Dave asked as he came in with some shopping bags. 

"Which one?" 

"That gorgeous professor. At least I think that's what he does. Do you think he'll like this?" Dave pulled out a short baby blue cocktail dress.

"Oh, Dave, I thought you gave up on that." His cross-dressing was why the reason why they left their old hometown. 

"Mom never seemed to mind."

Tara stopped for a second. Their mother. The second person Dave came out to. The reason why he was here with her. "I know she didn't. Paul did though."

Dave shut his eyes, and almost instinctively traced the scar along his left shoulder. Tara's last boyfriend wasn't just homophobic; the fact that his girlfriend was sister to a gay man didn't help either. "He was such an idiot."

***

"Hot date, Cohen?" Roger asked.

"What gave it away?" Mark pulled on a turtleneck. 

"Well, for one thing, the camera's actually in the case. So, what, is she against the first night in bed being commemorated on film, or is hell freezing over?"

"Neither. I don't think it's right for me to drag it along." Roger stared at him. "I'll be back later." Mark left the loft. 

Roger finally noticed Mimi standing in the doorway. "You told him to leave it?"

"What? I'd hate it if you had shoved a camera in my face on our first date."

Collins slammed the door. The couple looked up at him. "Well. Someone couldn't stand the couch potatoes today," Roger said. Collins glared at him, and then stormed off to his room. "What do you think happened, babe?"

"Probably something about Angel. I'll go check on him." She leaned over, and kissed Roger.

Collins sat down on his bed, not wanting to remember the guy downstairs in the short blue dress. He had asked Collins out. 

***

PS: Yep, that's foreshadowing, kiddies! Hee hee.

Okay, bracing myself for a challenge…15 reviews or I don't update. Please, I'll take anything; flames, praise, advice. I WANT 15 REVIEWS!!!!!!!!!! SO DO IT!!!!!!!


	3. 3

AN: A sincere thank you to BohemianCane04. Really think its that good? I personally think it's crap…but that's me.

Own nobody except for Tara and Dave.

***

Tara opened her door. "Collins! What are you doing here?"

"Hey, I thought someone else lived…" He looked in the apartment. Dave wasn't in there.

"Oh no. Look, please, come in. I'll get Dave."

She stormed into her brother's room. "David Michael Wendko, would you care to explain to me why Tom Collins is waiting out there?!"

Dave stuck his head out of the closet. "He's my date. Should I go with men's or women's?"

She shut the door. "Dave, listen. He's just getting over someone."

"Please. Gay men are not all that uncommon."

"His last lover died, David, all right? And from the stories I've heard, he was a cross-dresser as well." 

Dave looked at her, his brown eyes searching through hers. "Ta, please. I gotta know what it feels like on my own."

She sighed. "Go ahead." 

With a squeal, Dave hugged her. "Get out, I've gotta get dressed."

"There's something else-"

'Tara." He put down a pair of khakis. "Don't give me the man's life story. If something is extremely important, I'm sure that Tom is capable of telling it to me himself."

"I hope you're right."

***

"Steve, are you sure? I mean, it's highly unlikely-"

"POOKIE!"

Joanne stopped. "Steve, can you hold on, please? Yes, I know. Well, I- Okay, okay, I'll call you back."

Maureen walked into the room. "I needed you. Come on. I heard the building's being put back up for sell."

"First of all, the Greys have already own it. Again. Secondly, I was on an extremely important phone call."

Maureen pouted. "I hate it when you have to bring work home."

Joanne paused for a second. She wasn't one to lose her temper but- "Get out."

"What?"

"Get out, Maureen. I need to work. I can't help with your protest, all right? I've got my own job."

"But, Pookie-"

"I mean it."

Maureen bit her lip. "So, that's it then. I'll leave." She began walking over to her room. "You know," she said, turning around at the door, "if I leave, you're just losing THE BEST THING YOU HAD GOING!"

Joanne barely flinched when she heard the door slam.

***

Tara had almost run into the man at the bottom of the stairs. "Omigosh, I'm so sorry!" She was running late already.

"It's fine," the man grumbled. He picked up a pair of scratched sunglasses, and gathered the contents of his briefcase. 

"Are you okay?"

"I told you, I'm fine," he said, "Like this hasn't been a shitty day already."

"What happened?" She tapped his shoulder. "My name's Tara."

"Benny."

"Do you wanna to talk about what happened?"

"Nah. I gotta do some work."

"Oh, no please!" She grabbed his arm. "I might have some time. I have to meet someone at the Life-" Benny stared at her. "Please. I'm sorry, but…I like to help people."

"You wouldn't understand." He snapped the briefcase closed.

"I can try." 

Mark looked into the Life Café's windows. He couldn't be seeing this.

Tara and Benny were sitting at a table, with Benny's hand over…

He turned and ran.

"Come on, Tom."

Collins looked at Dave. "I know it's been rough for you since Angel, but you have to let go." Dave leaned over.

"Dave, please, it's only been a week." 

"Tom, I love you. What is it you told me on our first date?"

"Today for you, tomorrow for me. I know, but there's something I need-"

"I don't care. We've both had it rough. Let this happen now."

Collins stared into Dave's eyes. "You're absolutely sure?"

"I've got nothing to lose."

***

PS: Well, well. Joanne and Maureen are no more…again, Dave's contracting AIDS, and what the hell is Mark thinking? Review, flame, whatever, and you will see!!! ; )


	4. 4

AN: Sorry this took awhile. But you know, I have school, and I'm writing about God-knows how many fics, but anyways.

To my constant reader BohemianCane04, you rock! I seriously love you because you love this complete piece of junk…I take that. It's not all that bad.

***

Mark sat against the wall. Some things never changed. Tara was too good to be true for him.

"Marky?" Oh, God, he knew that screech anywhere. Could this day go any worse?

Maureen stood over him. "Mark, why are you sitting the middle of the lot?"

"Because I feel like it. What do you want, Maureen?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Shoot."

"Well…" She twirled a strand of hair around her finger. "Po- I mean, Joanne and I decided that it wasn't working out."

"And?" He was hoping there was some point to this conversation.

"I've realized my mistake. I love you, Mark."

He stared at her. "Bull, Maureen."

"What?"

"That's a load of bullshit. You never went lesbian, you just wanted to make me feel jealous."

"Mark, honey, that's not true!"

He got to his feet. "And now that I've-" He paused. "See ya around."

"Pookie!" The pet name followed him down the street.

"Mark!" Tara came out of the Life. "Hey, what took you so long?"

"What were you doing in there?"

"Huh?" Tara squinted her eyes. "You mean with Benny? He just wanted to-"

"To what? Give you free rent or something?"

"Mark, listen, it wasn't anything like that."

"Yeah, right. I know what I saw." He began walking away.

"Mark!" She grabbed his wrist. "Please listen."

He looked into her eyes. "Bye, Tara."

***

Maureen threw her keys across the room. "That bastard." Marky had gotten a new girlfriend. Now he was too good for his old one. "Thicker than blood…fuckin' bullshit."

At least Joanne had made the very wise decision to move all of her stuff out of Maureen's place. Then again, that was Pook-Joanne's way.

She picked up a silver heart frame. The one reserved for her special pictures- her and Marky on his birthday a few years ago, her and Joanne at that St. Patrick's day, every single important lover since college.

Maureen fingered the curved sides, then hurled it against the wall. 

She didn't bother to pick up the broken pieces.

*** 

Tara threw her pen down. She and Mark had broken up two weeks ago, and this was the thanks she got. "I hate writer's block."

All she wanted was Mark back. The poor guy had lost so much, and he was probably tearing himself up inside. 

"Tara?"

She looked up from her piece of paper. "Hi, Mimi."

"I heard what happened."

"I know." Tara sighed. "If he had just listened to me…"

"Everything would be okay? Doesn't exactly work that way."

"How do you know?"

Mimi sat across from her. "Roger and I broke up because of Benny."

"Why? What happened?"

"I was young, stupid, and broke. Benny gave me a place to stay. And then he used that against Roger."

"Wow. I can see why you all hate him."

Mimi smiled. "Look, I just came down to see if you were all right."

"Yeah. I'm fine." Tara took a deep breath. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure."

"Tell him I'm sorry."

Mimi got up from her seat. "Okay. You know where I'm-"

"Yeah, I know." Tara turned her head away. She blinked back tears as she heard the door shut. 

It was too hot in the room. Tara got up and opened a window. Screw the window; she felt like sitting out on the fire escape.

Pen and notebook in her hand, she sat on the grille. About two floors above, she could hear "Musetta's Waltz." On the guitar no less. Tara craned her neck upwards. "Hey vibes man, hey jazz man, play me your serenade," she sang. And two tears dropped from her cheeks.

***

"Benny?!"

The former mogul stood in the doorway. "Listen, guys, I just wanted to ask you if-"

"If what?" Not only was Mark ready to deck the man, but also he had a good feeling that Roger wouldn't waste a minute to join him.

"Can I stay here? For a while?"

Roger looked up from his guitar. "Aren't you the landlord?"

"Yeah. Why would you want to stay with us lazy bums?" Mark asked.

"I've got nowhere else." Benny's eyes looked like he had been crying. "C'mon. It'll be like old times."

"Yeah, right," Roger mumbled.

***

PS: Gotta give serious props for my "Serenade" reference (man, am I that pitiful? I'm taking quotes from my _own_ fics).Anyway, why is Benny back in the loft? And how are Meems and Rog gonna deal with that? And how's Dave gonna take living with HIV? And, most importantly, will Mark and Tara get back together? Review, and I'll tell you.


	5. 5

AN: Thanks to emotional-static for reviewing, and a shout-out to constant review buddy BohemianCane! Luv ya!

Okay, the first section that pops up, I meant to have in the last chapter (that's way I mention something about Dave's HIV). So, just read that part really quickly, and get on with the rest of this thing.

Dave stumbled in the apartment. Tara sighed. "David, were you drinking again with Collins?"

"No," he said, in a dazed manner.

"Well, what the hell happened to you? Did you get mugged or something?" He shook his head. "Dave, what's wrong?"

"I've got AIDS."

***

"David, what have I told you about this sort of thing?" Tara pushed a large strand of hair back. "I've told you, hell, even Mom warned you about this sort of thing." Dave hugged his knees and buried his face in them. "You knew the dangers. And you didn't ask Collins? What the hell were you thinking?"

"I'm sorry, I forgot." He started rocking back and forth.

"No, David, that's the thing. You cannot forget these kinds of things. You're gay. Gays get AIDS. And don't say I'm being prejudiced because I know damn well that Mimi and Roger both have it." Dave shut his mouth. "You cannot forget that. And what if something happens with you and Collins?"

"He's not dying!" 

Tara looked at her brother. It was like he was eight all over again, crying about some kid knocking him off his bike. "God damn it, Dave, I never said that!" And then she snapped. "You know what your problem is? You want Mom to, to hold you in h-her l-l-lap and say that it's gonna be okay. Well, you've gotta get out of that, okay, David? Mom's dead. She died six years ago. She's not coming back. And you know what? I am so sick and tired of being her for you. Yeah, I loved Mom, too. But I'm not her." Tara started towards the door. "Dave. Grow up."

He started crying. 

***

"What do you mean, Benny wants to move back in?"

Roger took her hand. "Well, according to him, he's got nowhere left."

"He's the fuckin' landlord. Why in God's name-"

"-would he move back in?" they both finished. Mimi began putting on her fishnets.

"He won't tell us."

"I will not share an apartment with that asshole, Roger Davis. And you can tell him that yourself." She got up and threw the door open. "I'm late for work."

Roger came out of their room. "So what's the easier way to kick out Benny?"

Mimi walked down the hallway. Benny moving back in? Over her dead ass.

That's when she noticed Tara sitting on the stairwell. "Ta, _chica_? Are you okay?" Tara looked up at with puffy eyes, and barely shook her head. "I'm not," she whispered.

***

"You okay, Collins?" Roger slid his fingers back and forth over the guitar strings.

The usually talkative professor looked up from the book he was trying to read. "You ever wonder if murderers ever feel a guilty conscience?"

Roger stared at him. "You been smokin' weed? Cause, uh, truth be told, it really never crossed my mind."

Collins looked out the window. "Me and Dave- we-we did it."

"You're shittin' me, aren't you?" Collins shook his head. "Jesus Christ," Roger whispered.

***

Tara opened the door to her apartment. "Dave?" He was probably in his room. "Dave? Can I, uh, talk to you?" Still no answer.

She paused outside his bedroom door. "Listen, Dave, I'm sorry about what I said. I really wish I could say that I didn't mean at least half of them, but-Look, you've really gotta get on your own. Mom's not gonna be there every single time your get a cut. Dave?" She couldn't even hear him crying. Now she was really getting scared. "David?" 

Tara budged his door open. No sign of him there. "David?!" She began checking the rooms. He wasn't anywhere.

"Dave, where the hell are you?" She threw open the door to the bathroom. On the floor, a small, red waterfall tumbled over the bathtub. "Oh shit, David!"

***

"So, let me get this straight. You two had sex, and he didn't even ask you about being HIV-positive.' Roger knocked back his beer. "I'm sorry, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

"Wanna know something even dumber?"

"Shoot, my man."

"Wouldn't let me tell him."

"Oh, now, you're shittin' me."

"Who's shittin' who?" Mark locked the door. 

"Where were you?" Collins asked. 

"Looking for a job."

His friends stared at him. "Roger, you gotta share him for my shit list."

"He's all yours. What in the hell possessed you to get a job?!" Mark even thinking about a career outside of filmmaking was near impossible. Roger would believe it when Hell froze over.

"Well, I don't think that-"

"Can someone help me? Please?" 

The three men turned their heads to the door. "That's Tara, isn't it?" Collins asked.

"Yeah, I wonder what's going on?" Even though he wasn't speaking with her, Mark wasn't low enough to completely ignore her.

"Please!" 

Roger decided to actually do something and ran out the door. "What's going on?"

Tara was shaking. "It's-it's Dave. Please. You've gotta help me. I- I- c-c-c-can't g-g-g-g-go ne-near him."

"Shit." Roger ran down the stairwell. "There's towels by the sink!" Tara called after him. "Oh, God."

"What's going on?" Tara stared at him. "D-d-d-Dave tried to-, he…" Mark realized what had happened. "I'll get an ambulance."

The paramedics arrived about a twenty minutes later. "Is he gonna be okay?" Tara asked, hovering the men carrying David downstairs.

"Don't know, ma'am. We'll contact you."

"No wait. Let me go with him. I'm his sister." The meds looked at each and shrugged. She turned to the others. "They're going to Mt. Sinai. Okay?" 

Collins nodded. "We'll be there as soon as we can."

"Thank you." She gave him a hug, and then left.

***

"Hey babe, why's the house so quiet?" Mimi took off her jacket and flung into a corner. "Where is everyone?"

Roger looked up at her. "The hospital."

"Shit. Collins isn't-"

"It's not Collins."

It wasn't Collins? That was the only major reason she could think of why someone needed to go there. "Then, what's going on?"

"You know Tara's brother Dave?" She nodded. "They- I don't know. She found him in the tub." He stopped right there. _Just like April_.

The look in her boyfriend's eyes spoke it all for Mimi. "He didn't." But she knew it was true.

PS: Yes, Dave pulls an April! But don't worry, David Wendko isn't going away for a while. BUT…how does this episode affect our fave film-maker and Tara? How does Collins feel? (And for any of you Roger, Mimi, and Maureen fans, don't worry. I've got a long way to go.) So, to get the next installment, REVIEW!


	6. 6

AN: Many thanks to Mari, Elessar, and BohemianCane for reviewing!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, sorry this took forever, but I'm still kinda writing this as I go along. I'll try to be faster with the next segment.

Dave tried to focus, but found that he really couldn't. Wasn't their bathroom ceiling blue? That was his favorite color. He picked it out, Tara did the paint job. It was called Blueberry. He was staring up at a white ceiling. They probably called it-

"Bleach White. Be glad that you can actually see it." Dave looked over at the side of his bed. Two people were standing there. "And I'm glad that you're awake, honey," the taller of the two said. Dave couldn't tell if they were a man or woman, mostly thanks to the voice pitch, and the fact that the person was wearing a white, sparkly dress.

"That was a close one, David. It's a good thing that Tara came in at that time to apologize." The second one sat down, and began stroking his forehead. She smiled down at him. In fact that smile reminded him of- "I know, I know. My ex-boyfriend said the same thing when he met his current girlfriend."

"Aren't we the jealous type?"

"Funny," she said, "Dave, you're a really lucky guy. When I slit my wrists, they came too late." Huh. He hadn't notice the two bandages on her arms. Or on his.

"We know what happened with you and Tom." Her friend put their arms around hers. Now closer, and he still couldn't figure out what the hell this person was supposed to be. "And I want to tell you something very important." Oh, boy, was he going to get a huge long speech? "No. It might sound like that, but I really don't mean it to.

"Dave, like we said, you're special. SO many people love you. Like Tom, and Tara. Mimi adores your shopping tips. Unfortunately they're not as good as mine, but she still appreciates them. Sorry about that, hon." 

That's why these people were here? Christ, why didn't he just slit the veins back open. "Oh, no, no, no," the girl said, "What we're here for is to tell you is that you got a second chance. Use this experience to change your life." So? It didn't change the fact that he was going to die.

"Honey, what people don't realize is that we're all gonna die, AIDS or no AIDS. And a lot of them just waste their lives. But you were saved." The other person smiled at him. "We've got a busy night tonight, so we've gotta go. But remember what Tom said to you. Oh, and tell him that I miss him, and I can't wait 'til our next date. Just not that way." The girl just rolled her eyes and smiled.

Dave closed his eyes. What kind of morphine did this place have, anyway?

***

Collins laid back on the plastic couch, waiting to hear if Dave woke up or not. And he wanted him to.

"You okay, honey?" 

His head snapped up. It couldn't be. Even though it sounded _exactly_ like him and-

"Tom, honey, it's me." He sat down next to Collins on the couch. "I am so happy for you."

"Of what? My-" He had been at loss for words very few times in his life. This was one of them.

"Oh, you can say it." Angel giggled. "_Boyfriend_. I know everything that happened."

"Yeah. Um, you know, it just- I mean we only went out-"

"Doesn't make a difference. You love him. He loves you. Just because I'm dead doesn't mean you can't have a lasting commitment. No day but today, 'member?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Look, honey." Angel took Collins's head in his hands. "Love Dave as much as you loved me. And help him through this. He's might need it."

"Thanks. You know, I-" He looked up in his ex-boyfriend's eyes. "I still love you."

"I do, too."

Collins woke up, his back hurting from the plastic chair. "I know you do," he whispered.

***

Tara stood outside the hospital cafeteria, clutching a Styrofoam cup. Dave-it was almost like Dad. _Except he wanted to go quickly_.

"I really feel bad for you, y'know?" 

Tara looked behind her shoulder. Another girl, with curly brown hair and two wristbands, stood there. "About what?" The girl looked familiar, but at that moment, Tara wouldn't have known her own self.

"About Dave. And your parents," she said, walking up to her, "And Mark." The girl held out a hand. "I'm April." 

Tara shook it, but not before she noticed that the bands were stained with blood. Correction: they were bandages. "How did, you know- I mean-"

"I think you know who I am."

Okay, now she was hallucinating. "Well, no. I mean, if you were-are-_that_ April, I mean-" She took a deep breath. "Mark told me you-you-"

"Killed myself, I know. I did it. You wanna go for a walk?"

Screw hallucinating, Tara was going insane. There was no way that she was taking a walk with Roger's _dead_ ex-girlfriend. "How do you know about- you know, Dave?"

"It's really boring being dead, I'll just put it like that."

"Oh." Tara scratched the surface of her cup.

"But," April continued, "I'm not really here to talk about Dave."

She didn't just say that. "You mean he's-"

"He's okay, and awake. Someone's gonna find him, calm down. But I really wanna talk about what happened with you and Mark."

Tara looked away and bit her lip. Not one of the things she was ready to have a long-winded conversation about. "Yeah, um…he-we-broke up." 

"It was an accident. It's not like he really wanted to break up with you, but he's got some kind of instinct."

"What do you mean?"

April shrugged. "Personally, I blame Maureen." Ah, yes. Another one of Tara's favorite topics. She had nothing against the woman, but she had heard from Mimi that Maureen didn't like Tara, reasons unknown. "It's just that- Maureen's kind of a flirt. And she cheated on him. And her ex-girlfriend too, now that I think about."

"You're kidding me, right?"

"I wish I were. It was nothing serious, but sometimes they would go out and she would start flirting with everyone in sight. And he really got hurt by it."

"So when he saw Benny and me-"

"Exactly. Listen. Talk to Mark. Tell him what happened. I don't know what he's gonna say, but it's worth a shot."

Tara nodded, and gave April a hug. "Thanks," she whispered, shutting her eyes to hold back tears.

When she opened them again, she was back outside the cafeteria, her coffee still hot.

***

Mark opened the fridge and grabbed a beer. God, Tara's brother was one the last people he would've suspected to commit suicide. 

Then again, he thought the same about April.

"Honey, he's alive and okay."

That voice sounded way too familiar- especially the fact since he hadn't heard it since last October. "Am I dreaming?"

Angel pushed himself up on the counter. "I don't know. But I'm glad you're still worried about those two."

"What do you mean? Tara and I broke up."

"Oh, I know all about that, Mark honey. Why did you do that?"

Mark couldn't believe it. _Him_? He was the whole reason because of what happened? "If you didn't know already, she was with Benny."

Angel sighed. "Boy, he does ruin a lot of relationships around here, doesn't he?"

"Seems like it."

"But-" Angel came down from his perch. "You're still at as much fault as Benny is."

"Why? She's the one who had lunch with him."

"Mark, did you ever consider _why_ they were having lunch?"

"Yeah, I did." He knew what he saw. 

"Did she tell you her side of it? Why she decided to talk with him while waiting for you? And at the Life, where you two were meeting anyway?"

"Well-" Mark stopped. Holy shit, he didn't. He just thought that, and…"Well, it could have been anything. I'm not a mind reader, Angel. As far as I knew they could have been talking about anything."

"Hm. I suppose you're right. Just remember, Tara is no Maureen. She doesn't believe in flirting around, and was really upset when you two broke up." Angel smiled at him. "By the way, April says hi, too."

Mark found himself standing at the fridge, and the door was open. 

***

PS: Angel and April, making a very important guest appearance. Does it work?

Okay, the regular drill: REVIEW! PLEASE!


	7. 7

AN: WOW!!!!!! I've gotten so many reviews for that last chapter. (Okay, so it was big for me.) Thanks you guys! ( And to love, I can't promise if Joanne and Maureen will get back together. Joanne will make a guest appearance, though, so keep an eye out for that.)

So the Angel & April guest appearances worked, huh? I can't promise you yet, but it's a possibility they might show up again!

Otherwise, I own nothing.

***

Tara ran her fingers over the hospital sheets. _Once I think I'm outta of here, it just pulls me back in_, she thought, _Two freakin' years_.

"Ms. Wendko?" One of the doctors stood at the door with a clipboard in his hand. "I need to speak with you."

"I'll be back, 'kay, Dave?" She got up and went over to the door.

"I just want you to know that we're expecting him to make a full recovery. He should be out in a day or so."

"Thanks. That's great."

"However, we did have to get blood samples for drug testing, just to see if there was anything that might have brought this on."

"Well, I can understand that, but I know Dave doesn't do drugs."

"Just a procedure, Ms. Wendko. But we did find something very important. There was evidence of the virus HIV in the-"

"I know." The doctor stared at her. "He contracted it from his boyfriend."

"I see," he said, "I need to fill out an AZT prescription for him. You two can pick some up when he gets discharged."

"Thank you." She looked back into her room. _Dying like Mom, but you almost went out like Dad_. Tears pinpricked the back of her eyes. _I don't want to lose you, too_. "Just hold on, okay, Dave?"

"Tara?" Someone put a hand on her shoulder. "Oh, hi, Mark."

"How is he?"

"Fine." She looked away. Hospitals were a great place to contract depression. No wonder nobody liked them.

"Hey, Tara- about, you know, that day. At the Life?" Mark pushed up his glasses. "What, um, were you doing?"

"Waiting for you."

"And Benny? I mean, you know-"

"I didn't." She stared at him. "I never met him until that day."

"Then why were you, you know-"

"Talking with him?" Tara couldn't believe this. He didn't know? Okay, so they had only gone for three weeks, but still it was something he should caught, like the first time they met. "I'm a nice person, Mark. I see someone who's having a bad day, I want to help them out. Listen to them." She started back into the room, and Mark grabbed her wrist. "Remember what Dave told you that first night? About there were no nice people in New York?"

"Of course I do." Memo: Kick self in ass as soon as possible. Mark couldn't believe of how big of an idiot he was. Damn, that was something Old Roger would do. Of course she was a nice girl!

"I thought you weren't like the rest." She pulled away and shut the door.

"Shit." Mark felt like punching the wall at that moment.

***

__

Beep. Beep. "Hey Dave!" Tara yelled. "AZT!"

He popped the pill. "You don't need to remind me."

Tara frowned. "I just wanted to make sure that you're actually taking the stuff. You going out with Collins tonight?"

"Yes, we're meeting out at the Life for coffee and prescription drugs."

Tara glared at him. "Funny. This isn't something to joke about."

"You should talk about your own life."

Mark sat on the couch. "Okay, heads, I apologize, and tails, I get drunk, and try to forget about this whole damn thing." He flipped the coin. "Ah, shit."

***

Dave kissed Collins. "Honestly, I can't live with that girl anymore."

"You wanna know a living hell? Live with Benjamin Coffin the Third sometime." 

"Oh, no. Ever since the discharge, it's like 'Dave, are you ok? Dave, you gotta take your AZT'." He ran a finger around his glass rim. "She's being so hypocritical, saying I'm so dependent, but she's making me that way."

"Well, maybe you are, and maybe you aren't."

"What does that mean?"

Collins put his hand on Dave's leg. "Ever think 'bout moving in with someone else?"

"You want me to live with you?" Dave felt his heart leap a little. Maybe this was what he needed to become more independent.

"Well, yeah, up in the loft, but we could move somewhere else if you like."

"Collins! That's so great!" Dave gave him a kiss. "When can I move in?"

***

Tara propped her feet up on the outside fire escape. This was a ton of fun, spending at night in the city with a nice cooler of liquor. _Lonely girl living it up in the big city_, she thought, _Story of my wonderful, fuckin' life._

She could hear someone knocking on the door. Now, since when did _she_ get visitors? For all, Tara knew, it was probably Dave coming home from his date. "Door's open!" she yelled, before taking a swig of Captain Morgan.

No answer. Well, it might have been some other apartment in this shithole. She didn't really care anymore. It was one thing to lose your parents in a year. It's another to lose your brother and your boyfriend in two weeks.

"You sharing that?" someone asked.

Not just someone. Mark. He had his head hanging out of the window.

"Maybe. There was nothing better I could do tonight."

"Everyone's out and about, but you're stuck at home." He smiled at her.

"Oh, and since did we become the party animal?"

"I never said anything about that."

Tara glared at him. "Really? I don't think I've ever seen _you_ come home drunk."

"Ha ha. Do Meems and Dave keep you up-to-date?"

She nodded while taking another swig. "Last I heard, there was something 'bout you getting a job, I really don't remember what they told me."

"Huh." _Christ, Cohen_, he thought_, what the fuck are you doing? You're not here talk to about your stupid job_. "Hey, about what happened at the hospital- I'm, well,-"

"What, sorry?" Tara started laughing. "Oh my God, I can't fuckin' believe you just brought that up. You actually thought I was dating someone else. God, Mark, are you that stupid?"

"Tara, no- well, yeah, actually, but that's not the point. I just, I don't know, took it the wrong wa-Tara?" She was holding on to her sides, and was laughing really hard. "Are you drunk?"

"No. It's just so fuckin' funny. You actually thought that? What, do you think I'm a slut, huh, Marky?" She kicked back another drink. "Boy, if I could'd seen your face when you saw us- why didn't you bring that camera, it's like a body part to you." 

"Yeah, you're drunk. Come on, I'll take you back inside."

She pulled away. "Noooo. I'm okay. This is the only thing I've had."

Mark pulled out an empty bottle of drink mix. "Really? I think you need to take a nap."

"Mmm." Tara snuggled herself against Mark's arm. "That sounds nice."

"Yeah, yeah. Come on in." He pulled her into the apartment.

***

Dave walked into the loft's kitchen. "God, I never really noticed how ugly this place is."

Mimi laughed. "Be glad you don't live here. Then you'd put up with it every day."

"Well, hopefully, that's going to change soon." He smiled at her.

Mimi looked at him weirdly. What was he talking about? Last she remembered was Dave was pretty much living with Tara because he couldn't make it on his own. Unless- "Did Collins, ask you-" He nodded. "Oh my God, Dave, that's so great! When are you moving in?"

"I really don't know. I want to tell Tara first, and then, I don't know!"

"This is gonna be really interesting."

PS: Ooo! Tara drunk. That turned out…interesting. Anyways, REVIEW! PLEASE! I beg of you! If you do not, I will break up the couples AS WE KNOW IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	8. 8

AN: YAY!!!!!!!!! At this point, "Seasons of Love" has now become my most popular fanfiction! **does the happy dance**

Okay, so maybe not once I get this stupid POTC fic up. And the one for Chicago….

Anyways, we're gonna jump straight into August. But it doesn't mean the ride's over yet!

"Owww..." Tara held her head. This was one girl who couldn't hold her liquor. "God, how much did I drink last night? A keg?"

"Half gallon of drink mix and vodka, and then a half bottle of Captain's. I was glad not to have to rush you to the hospital." 

She turned around and saw Mark. "One, the drink mix was almost gone anyway. Two, what the hell happened?"

"You got drunk, yelled at me, and then I took you inside." 

"Did we-?"

"No." Okay, he was extremely tempted to, but Mark, while sex-deprived, wasn't that desperate. "Can I talk to you?"

She poured some coffee into her cup. Damn. Cold. "I thought we were talking."

"I mean, about- you know, us."

"What?" 

"Look, I'm sorry about what happened with the whole Benny issue. It's not your fault, it's just-"

"Maureen?"

He could've sworn his mouth dropped at that second. How did she know? "Did Roger, or Collins, or someone tell you that, 'cause-"

"Nah. A little bird told me." Okay, so she was lying through her teeth, but would Mark honestly believe that April came back from the dead to tell her everything?

Mark stared at her. What Tara talking about? _That's not the point!_ "Anyway, yeah. She kinda screwed me over that way."

"So…what are you sayin'?"

He looked at her. Tara's eyes were a little red from last night, but he could still see her sincerity. "You wanna give it another try?" 

***

August:

Collins pulled the cardboard box up the stairwell. "Christ, Dave. What the hell do you have in here?"

"Shoes." He smiled as he helped his boyfriend with the thing. 

"Shoes?! What are they, cement?"

"Nope. Women's and men's."

Collins dropped the box. "Dave, I thought we talked about this."

Dave sighed. "Yeah, hon, I know. I really don't know what to do with them all. Right now, it's either hawk them for cash or at least give'em to Meems."

"Wanna try both? Rent's due soon."

"I thought Mark got a job now."

"He did." Mark had finally gotten job down at a productions company, which seemed great to him until he realized that it specialized in children's videos. Rog had a great time ripping on Mark about that one.

"Kid's videos?! What are you doing, man?" Roger shook his head, and started cracking up again.

"Fuck you. I'm getting some money here."

"Oh, so it's not just the kiddie films. Marky's turning into yuppie scum." Which was usually followed by a punch directed at Roger's head, but never seemed to get there. 

"Okay, okay. I'll pawn some of them." Dave grabbed his side of the box. "Tara, are you coming with that paint stuff?" he called down.

She wasn't. 

"Mark! Stop it, will ya? I gotta this stuff up-ah!" She fell over the couch. 

"Come on…" he said, flopping over and landing next to her. "You can do it later." He kissed her.

Tara pulled away, laughing. "No, I really-Okay, just one more."

***

Dave sat down on the loft couch. Okay, so it had taken them forever- with nearly everyone sneaking to make out and have a little fun, as it would have seemed. But here he was. _Kinda on my own._

"Congrats!" Roger threw a beer into his lap. "You sure wanna be here, Dave? We can still get you back downstairs in about another twelve hours."

"Very funny," he said, twisting off the cap. 

"Label your drugs?"

"Huh?"

Roger punched the new roomie in the arm. "Your drugs."

Dave just rolled his eyes, and then laid back. "I'll keep them in my room."

The door burst open. "Hey, no house-warming party?"

"Hi, Maureen," they both groaned.

She brandished two bottles of champagne. "You two are so lazy. Liven up a bit, y'know?" 

Roger finally noticed what she had. "Is that alcohol?"

"Yeah. You want some?" She wagged the bottle in front of him. Roger nodded. "What about you, kid?"

Dave held up his beer. "Taken care of."

"Like I said, liven up a little, what don'tcha?"

"Hey Dave!" Tara ran into the room. "You forget anything?"

"Not that I know of."

"Okay." She smiled, and then saw Maureen there. "Oh. Hi."

Maureen tried to smile back at her. "Hi there. Thirsty?" She held up the bottles.

"No thanks. I'm not that great at holding liquor."

"Well, that's your prerogative." 

"Um, okay. If you guys need me, I'll be downstairs." Tara turned and started out the door.

"Tell FilmBoy down there that he's got his share of rent due! For this apartment!" Roger yelled after her. "All right, Mo. Crack'em open."

She nodded, and started to the kitchen. Maureen had never realized before about how much she hated Tara.

PS: Please pleaseplease please PLEASE REVIEW!! SPOILER: BIG NEWS FROM MIMI AND MARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	9. 9

AN: I'm sorry that this took so long-stupid final exams.

But just so you're not too disappointed with the little filler part, I will promise even more major shit happening (see bottom for details.)

Hey- and thanks to every one who reviewed! Two pages (this is a record for me)! YAY!

Mimi stormed into the bathroom, feeling like shit. Nah-make that lower than shit. Which was strange, because she and Roger had pretty much fucked the whole night. Sex usually made Mimi feel a lot better the next morning. Her T-Cells had better not be low. 

She opened the medicine cabinet to pop her pills. _I gotta piss._

Mimi threw on her bathrobe after she finished. "I want eggs." That was weird, cause she never thought aloud to herself. "Roger! Breakfast!"

She didn't notice that she had missed her period. 

"Mark, you're gonna be late!" Tara tried to push him away from her. Which was tough, because Mark had already backed Tara up against the wall.

"Hell, I'll just tell them the train was full. Come on- one for the road."

Tara kissed him, for the fiftieth time, at least for her. "Happy now? Get going."

"I'll see you when I get home." He kissed her yet again, and then he left.

Tara flopped back down on her couch. God, he was crazy about her. Why Mark even left her was a mystery to Tara. Oh yeah. Maureen. 

She looked at the calendar on the home. August 14. "It's been two months already!" Holy shit. It seemed a whole lot longer, especially with the break-up and everything. 

Not mention her birthday was in a week. "It goes by way too fast," she muttered.

"What is their deal?" Maureen asked.

Mimi sighed. Why did she take a sick day? Stripping didn't require that she be perfectly healthy. "You mean Mark and Tara?"

"Didn't she just move in? And now he's like, whipped or something. I mean, at least we didn't fuck around every second."

"Gee, I wonder why." Although Mimi generally liked the girl, and was pretty good friends with her, she really, really didn't want to deal with Maureen. Especially like this.

"Dave, what do you mean, you haven't told him yet? It's next week." The door shut. 

"Well, I don't know how to spring it on him, all right?"

Mimi and Maureen went out to the living room. "What's next week?" Mimi asked.

"Our birthday. Twenty-fifth." Dave smiled a little, and then sighed. "But we haven't mentioned it to anyone."

"I keep telling him that he should tell one of you guys 'cause, you know, the whole twin thing, but-"

"Oh shut up. You could tell Mark whenever you want. If you just kept him off of you."

Maureen tried smile at her. "Well. I have to practice- I'll see you all later."

"Stay for lunch, at least, Mo. It's from this great little Thai place Tom and I ordered from once."

"No, I'm not really that hungry. I'll go."

Tara watched her go out. "What is her problem?"

Mimi stretched. "I don't know. Come on, I'm starving."

Dave held Tara back. "Look, I don't know why anyone hasn't told you yet, but Maureen wasn't happy when she heard 'bout you and Mark."

"Because of…what's her name? Josie?"

"Joanne. I think that's way she doesn't like you."

Tara looked back at the closed door and then at her brother. "She hates me because Mark's my boyfriend? God, she needs to get over him. It's been, what two? Three years?"

"Look, just don't say it to her face, 'kay?"

"Hey!" Mimi stood at the kitchen door. "Where's lunch? I'm really craving something here."

"Yeah, we're coming."

PS: Okay, the mini spoilers I promised:

I think you know what Mimi's thing is. BUT a very important relative will come into her and Roger's life! Maureen and Tara, as we all know, have been teetering on the edge. But this little fact gets pushed even further when Mark decides to make a big step in his relationship. A flashback to film school days! And special guest appearances by old favorites and No Vacancy (that one's for u BohiemianCane!) 


	10. 10

AN: Really, really, long chapter!!!!!!

Really, I'd just to thank everyone who's been reading and reviewing-you guys don't know how much this means to me. I just love coming home from a bad day and seeing a review. It's an ultimate high.

Anyways. Today's update is pretty long, but that's because the big news has arrived ( trumpets blaring )!

Otherwise, I, as always, own nothing. I'm using Dr. Hook ("Kingdom Hospital") on loan from ABC and Stephen King.

AN2: Scene changes are indicated by paragraph breaks.

"There's only us, there's only this..."

"Unnhhh…" Mimi rolled over. "Feel like complete shit."

Roger put his arm around her. "You've been saying that for the last week. Think about going to the doctor's sometime?"

She shook her head. "I don't wanna, Rog. What if-"

"Yeah, I know. Just get a check-up, okay?"

"Okay. You win. I'll make an appointment." She leaned over and gave him a kiss.

"You know, if you wanna keep spending the night, why don't you just move here? Or I can move upstairs."

Mark shoveled some Cap'N'Crunch into the spoon. "I thought you and Dave wanted to live separately."

"I do. But, if you're gonna spend this much time with me, I think we should definitely move in together." Tara pushed a strand of highlighted hair back.

"You really wanna deal with that? I mean, every single day?"

"Depends. Still wanna live with Roger and Collins?"

"Can I get some time to think about it?" She nodded. "All right, I gotta go." Mark grabbed his stuff and went over to her. "Happy 25th. We still on for tonight?"

"You bet we are. The Life at six?"

"Where else? I'll see you then." He left. "Hey, Meems."

Mimi paused on her way to the kitchen. "Long time, no see, Cohen!" She turned to Tara. "Are you doing anything today?"

"Amazingly enough, no. Why? You going shopping or something?"

Mimi shook her head. "I wish. I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon, and I was wondering if- you could come along. You know, moral, sista support?"

"Sure, no problem. Hey, let's just make a day of it, 'kay?"

"Fine. I'll-" She paused for a second. "Oh my God, I fucking forgot. Happy birthday."

"Hey, it's fine." Tara smiled. Something told her that twenty-five was going to be a very good year.

Tara leaned against the wall. "Why do I always forget a jacket?"

Mimi looked up at her from the table, fingering the edge of her shirt. "Think you're cold? I'm getting pneumonia over here."

Tara laughed a little. Why she was, she didn't even know. She stopped suddenly.

The door opened. "Miss Marquez?"

Mimi looked over and smiled. "Hi, I'm her."

He reached over and shook her hand. "Dr. Hook. I understand you scheduled this appointment because over some complications in the last few days?" She nodded. "Miss Marq-"

"Mimi. Please."

"Mimi. Right. Your records show that you were diagnosed with AIDS in 1994, am I correct?"

"Hm-hm."

"And you've regularly taken AZT in that time?"

"Yeah. What, am I sick or something?"

He smiled at her. "We really don't know for sure, yet. I'm going to have one of the nurses here run some tests, okay?"

Tara watched him leave. "You know, for a doctor, he was kinda cute."

Mark scanned the different rings. Man, he was better off by getting something from those quarter machines. He didn't even have a hundred bucks, let alone five.

Maureen would have wanted one if she knew. She wouldn't have cared about the cost, if it was for her, she wanted it right then and there. Tara on the other hand-

"Mark?"

He turned around. "Oh my God. Joanne. How've you been?"

She smiled. "Not that bad. Got a new place downtown, and I've been promoted at legal aid."

"Yeah, Maureen mentioned something about you guys breaking up."

Joanne snorted. "Oh, _that_. I can't even believe you two lasted even a year."

"You guys made it through longer."

"Until that new girl moved in downstairs. Are you still together?"

"Well, there was a little trouble, 'bout a month ago, but yeah, we are." She started laughing. "What? What's so funny about that?"

"Mark, I've never pictured you as someone who really wanted a lasting commitment."

"Why do you think I'm in here, then?"

"Contemplating armed theft?"

"Oh my God, Tara. I hope I'm okay. I don't wanna die yet."

She rubbed Mimi's back. "It's problem just your nerves or something. You'll be okay."

"Yeah, but I'm not even twenty-one yet. Fucking wonderful, isn't it? Twenty-one, legal, and on my deathbed."

"No one said that."

Mimi tried to smile a little. "Thanks, anyway."

Dr. Hook finally came in after what had seemed like hours. "Well? Am I dying?" she asked.

"Not exactly. Mimi, I've been going over these test results, and you're fine, as far as your immune system goes. But-"

"But what?"

"Well, unless I'm wrong, you're just about two weeks pregnant."

Mimi's jaw dropped. "WHAT?!"

"Meems! That's so wonderful!" Tara ran over and gave her a hug.

Mark sat down at own of his usual tables at the Life, trying to ignore the nasty looks that the busboys were giving him. He nearly laughed at the thought. Apparently, the owner hadn't gotten over Maureen's protest two years ago, plus the running IOU's from the loftmates. At this point, they could have been kicked out at any second.

"Evening, Mr. Cohen. This going on the tab?"

Mark looked up at one of the waiters. "Nah, I'm paying tonight. Can I get a beer?"

"Sure thing. Anything else?"

"Diet soda, please." Tara popped up from behind the kid. "And two dinner menus if you have them." She sat down, but not before giving Mark a nice, hard kiss.

"Hey. How was your day?"

Tara smiled at him. "Fine. Yours?"

"Well…You remember Joanne? The woman who Maureen used to live with?"

"Yes." She felt like strangling the guy. Number one topic never to discuss with Tara: Maureen Johnson and her former lovers. Especially anything that involved Mark "What about her?"

"Ran into her today."

What the hell was he doing?! Frankly, Tara really didn't even care about some woman Mark's ex-girlfriend dated. "Oh, um-that's nice."

"At the jewelry store."

"Hm." Tara tried to smile. She should definitely drop the subject, what did she care that Mark was in a jewelry- "You were at a jewelry store?!"

Mimi shut the door. Boy, what a day. After the whole doctor appointment, Tara had dragged her along for a massive window-shopping spree. Main targets: cute maternity clothes and baby stuff. "This is probably the easy part, Meems," Tara had said.

Now here was the hard part: telling Roger.

"Hey." Speak of the devil. Roger came over and started kissing her. "How was the doctor's?"

"Fine." No, it was not fine. God. She was gonna kill herself over this one.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah." Did she just nod?

He started rubbing her arms. "Sure you're okay, babe?"

God, just get it over with! "I don't know-Rog, I gotta talk to you."

"What is it? Did…you know…" Mimi shook her head. "Come on, what's wrong?"

"Roger, I'm pregnant, all right?"

"Mark Cohen, where in the hell did you get enough money for that?!"

Mark smiled. "Loan."

Tara took the little box from her. "Please tell me you didn't. And that you don't mean to. I mean, I still have to find a job, and, you know, I don't- and what about the loft?"

"Whoa, Tara, calm down, all right? A friend gave me some money, and said it was all on them, we don't have to pay them back."

"But, I mean, it's only been two months, and that whole thing with Maureen and, I need to get job, and, and…" Tara sat back and tried to process what had just happened. Oh, my God, Mark. Just…why?"

"To tell you the truth…I really don't know either." He put his hand over one of hers. "But I do know that I'm going insane about you, and I just know. You're her. You're it."

Tara bit her lip, trying to fight back tears. "You know, I've never been with anyone who's ever said that to me. Or, I haven't been with them long enough."

"So…do you?"

She nodded.

PS: YES!!! Mark and Tara are engaged! Mimi and Roger have procreated!! REVIEW PLEASE (especially if you want to see this thing happen. The wedding, I mean.)

PPS: Opening a mini-contest!!

While Mimi's and Roger's blessed event isn't occurring until May (Fic-Time), I still need names for said child!!! Boy and girl can be submitted. PLEASE TRY NOT TO MAKE A REFERENCE TO ANGEL. I love our deceased drag queen as much as anyone else does, but this is their kid (will make exception for middle name). Suggestions will be taken in REVIEWS. The winning name will be announced before the birth, but after the wedding.

THANKS!  
H2O Angel


	11. 11

AN: Sorry this took like forever to get up, but, my schedule was somewhat busy. Yet I digress.

First of all, I'd like to make note that there is NOT, repeat, NOT, a continuation of Mimi's revelation of her pregnancy to Roger. I'm sorry, I tried, but I did make mention of his reaction in this chapter, so not all was not lost. Secondly, I'd like to report that the baby-naming contest is still on! Remember, I'll take boy or girl, and the first name CANNOT relate to Angel in any way, shape, or form. You can, however, use our dear queen as a middle name. I'm not that mean.

Finally, I'd like to share with a great anecdote that happened to me. Last week was my high school graduation, which is why I couldn't really update. Anyways, my school being fairly conservative, "Rent" or even Jonathon wouldn't be held in high regard. Either way, I had gained somewhat of a rep of being a "Renthead"- from wearing my shirt, to using "Seasons of Love" as an audition for the school musical, to even inscribing various notebook covers with my favorite lines. Anyway, at my graduation ceremony, there was roughly ten speeches to be given, the first of which was to be delivered by our superintendent. I chose to blank out until they started calling names. Imagine my surprise when the superintendent said "In the song 'Seasons of Love'…"!!!! I almost fell out of my chair (_not_ a good thing, given that I was sitting in the middle of the stage, fully seen be everyone)! Even funnier, nearly everyone delivering a speech referred back to it, such as the valedictorian commenting, "I'm sorry, but I didn't count exactly _how_ long…" After the ceremony, roughly all my friends had to tell me how weird it was that there were quotes from "Rent"…and at my graduation, no less.

Anyways, I just wanted to share that with you guys…something weird and strange.

"In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights and cups of coffee…"

(Another AN...cuz I can't figure the stupid scene breaks, every time the font is postioned different, it means the scene has changed, ok?)

"Wait a second, wait a second." Collins took a quick sip of his beer. "You proposed and you're getting a baby, right?"

"Yeah, that's about it," Mark said.

"Man, outta the fucked-up things I've ever knew about, those just took the cake."

"Hey, raising a kid is not fucked-up, Collins, okay?" Roger poured himself another glass.

"I didn't say raising a kid was fucked-up. You raising a kid is."

"Fuck you."

"What'd you say when Mimi told ya?" Collins asked.

Roger started to say something, then stopped. Truth to be told, he _was_ genuinely at first, but then he kinda warmed up to the idea. "I just said that I'd always be there for her and the baby."

Collins smirked at the father-to-be. "So, when are these oh-so happy events going to occur?"

"Mimi's due next May. What about you, Cohen?"

Mark looked down. "We…haven't exactly…set a date yet."

Tara stood outside the apartment door. Why was she doing this? It was one thing to make amends; the whole thing changes once you get _engaged_.

Please, please don't let her get pissed off at me. She knocked on the door. _Here goes nothing_. Maureen opened up. "Hey, Mo," Tara said.

"What are you doing here?"

"Can I come in?"

While Maureen seemed like she felt nothing but pure hatred toward Tara, she was still nice enough to actually let her step into her apartment. Of course, after a flat three seconds, Maureen had to ask, "What's that?"

Shit. Time to play dumb. "What? Something on my shirt?"

"_That_." Okay, that statement was nothing but venom. Maureen grabbed Tara's hand.

"Oh. Um, Mark and I- well, um…"

"That bastard didn't." Maureen stomped away.

"Maureen, I didn't-"

"You didn't what? Whip him? Fuck him endlessly?"

"It's not like that." Tara really didn't want to lose her head like she did with Dave when-

She just didn't want to be responsible for something like that again. "Look, will you just listen to me?"

Maureen glared at her. "Whaddya want?"

Tara took a deep breath. "Yes, Mark and I did get engaged last week. And I know you're still friends with Roger and them. But, I wanted to come up here to make amends. I'm not here to gloat about being engaged, okay?"

"Then what? You wanted me to kiss and make up 'cause you need another bridesmaid or something?"

"No! I'd never do something like that!" Even though she _did_ need one, having promised Mimi the maid of honor position. "I just-wanna be friends, that's all." Maureen stared at her. Tara was looking at the ground, twining a strand of her brownish-blond hair around. "I really love him, Maureen. But I can't deal with you trying to break us up. So, let's just put it all behind, okay?" Tara took a deep breath and waited.

"Fine."

"Really? Oh my God, you don't know how much better I feel." Tara smiled. "You have to come over sometime so we can plan this thing, all right?"

Maureen watched her head out the door. _Why do I have a really bad feeling about this?_

"Hey, Mark, when am I gonna get to meet your parents?"

Mark started choking on his beer. "What?"

"You heard me. I'm sure your mother would like to meet her future daughter-in-law."

"Tara, hon, you have _got_ to be kidding. You know what my mother's like?"

"I know what she's like when you don't call her."

Mark groaned. His mother had called back up at the loft the other day. Fortunately, he was at work.

Unfortunately, Dave had picked it up and told Mrs. Cohen not to bother with this number anyway, and to just start calling downstairs. So by this point, Mark's mom knew that Tara and Mark were living together, she hadn't met Tara by this point.

As if almost on cue, the phone started ringing. "Ta- don't. Please, I beg of you."

"Oh, Mark, if it's your mom, I can handle her."

Mimi popped two pills. Not that it really mattered, anyway, as she would be throwing them up in another hour or so. "I hate being pregnant."

"Don't worry, babe, you still look hot." She hit Roger over his head. "Hey, watch it, Meems."

"Shut up. I need a job."

"You have one."

Really, some days she just wondered why she came back here last Christmas. "Preferably one that doesn't involve a group of horny bastards who have nothing better to do in their lives. My God, Roger, do you want our child to end up like us, a bunch of fuck-ups?"

"You forget. We _are_ a bunch of fuck-ups. Speaking of which, what are we gonna name it?"

Mimi shook her head. "I don't even have a clue. Right now, the only-" Someone was knocking at the door. "It's probably our token gay men."

"Or Maureen, and last I heard, she's really pissed about Mark," Roger added.

Mimi got up and opened the door. "Oh my God," she breathed.

A younger woman threw her arms around her. "Oh, Mimi, thank God, you're here. Do you know how many apartments I've been to?"

"Bel? What are you doing here?"

Bel sighed. "Meems, I couldn't take it anymore. I ran out."

"_You_ ran out?!" Mimi gaped at the girl. "When? What happened?"

"Excuse me!" Roger shouted from his place on the couch. "Can I get a little info here?"

"Bel, this is my boyfriend Roger, Rog, my little sister Bel," she said as fast as she could.

"Belle? Like the Disney chick?"

Bel narrowed her eyes at him. "No, Bel as in Isabel." Mimi's boyfriend was cute, but she thought there could've been a few brain cells missing. "I spent the last two days looking every where for you."

"I asked your mom if we could have dinner with her," Tara said, coming out of the other room.

"Oh, no. Please don't tell me she's coming here. Please don't tell me you said she could come here."

She sighed. "No, I didn't." Mark breathed, "Yes!" right as Tara said, "We're going up to Scarsdale next week."

"We're what?!"

"Me. You," Tara said, pointing at each of them, "are going. To dinner. At your mom's. Next Saturday."

"That's all?"

Tara stared at him. "Um, yeah, that's all."

"You two didn't say anything else?"

"Well, she said your sister and her husband were coming, too, but no, nothing else."

"Nothing about us being engaged?"

"No. That's _why_ I wanted to have dinner with her."

Mark thought about this as she walked back out of the kitchen to put the phone back.

PS: Read and review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I beg of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	12. 12

AN: Sorry!!!! Xtreme lack of muses and other random things have kept me from updating…but I guess it's worth the wait. Of course right now my biggest problem is creating some kind of timeline…but what the hey.

And now…responses and disclaimers for previous reviews:

anon: Yeah, well, I'm working on the asterisk thing. The new quick-edit feature isn't helping at all, though.

Jan: Okay, while I'll admit that there are similarities between the two, there are some differences. Mimi's sister's name is just Isabel, but everyone calls her Bel (reasons will be explained at some point in time). As for why Bel's with Mimi…well, I don't want to give away any spoilers.

Kelby: Tortured Marky, huh? I've got two more reasons: Collins and Cindy. Hee hee.

Liv: I thank thee kindly!

And for my dear friend Rose, a special treat…by the name of Theo.

I own any unfamiliar characters.

* * *

"Explain to me _why_ we're in a tux shop." Collins leaned back against the clothes racks, and watched Dave rummage through what seemed like thousands of accessories.

"Because _I'm_ giving Tara away, and she thought it was only right for me to do the stuff for the guys. Mimi's gonna do the exact same thing with the girls."

"Has she-" Collins broke off into a long series of hacking coughs.

"Tom, honey, are you okay?"

He nodded. "Just a cold."

"You're sure?"

"I'm fine, Dave."

Dave smiled and then pecked Collins on the cheek. "I don't want you to be sick for the wedding!"

The _wedding?_ "Dave, has she set a date yet?"

"Well, no. But I was thinking Halloween at the earliest."

* * *

"Explain to me again why Dave and Collins have to come along," Tara said, lugging a suitcase into the rental car's trunk.

"Because, my mom wanted to meet them. And I, um…"

Tara stared at Mark for a second, and then slapped him. "You _told_ her? I thought we were going to do that later?"

"No, I didn't tell. God, Tara, do you think I'm that stupid? I just said he was good at picking out fabrics. And that he was redoing the apartment."

"That's all?"

"That's all."

Meanwhile, back up at the loft…

"How come you and Roger aren't going?" Bel asked, peering out the window.

"I don't know…Roger doesn't even seem phased by it." Mimi wrote some things down. "How about lavender and ivory?"

"For us, yes. For the guys, hell no."

"I guess we'll get a darker color or something…Bel, _is_ everything okay? I mean, you're a little out of it."

"No," Bel said, in a faraway voice, "I'm fine."

* * *

"Your mom won't mind us, will she?"

"Huh?" Mark turned around. "You mean about you guys, right?"

"Uh, yeah." Dave sat back in the seat. "She's not gonna kick us out of the house or something, right?"

"Mrs. Cohen? I don't think she'll even care," Collins popped up, "Mark, remember the last time you had dinner with her?"

"Unfortunately."

"What happened?" Tara was driving, so she couldn't join in as well.

Mark sighed. "I had him, Roger, and Benny up right after we all moved in."

"And right before Hurricane Maureen-"

"Shut up. SO, I have these guys up, and my mom think it's funny to bust out my old home movies, and…"

_

* * *

"Marky, hon, are you still playing around that old camera?"_

Roger and Benny snickered. "Yeah, Marky's still using it," Roger barely managed to get out.

Mark, age 22, blushed. "Jesus, Mom, I'm in film school."

Hanna shook her head. "Oh, that's all he ever used to do. Run around with his father's film camera making movies about, oh, I never knew…"

"High school, Mrs. Cohen," Roger grinned at Mark, having been the focus of many said films back in the day.

"Documentaries, Mom."

"I've still got a few lying around in the attic. Hold on a second."

To Mark's utter misery, all five of them sat and watched every single film. By the time the last one was finished, he started to turn off the projector. "Wait! Mark, there's another one here!"

He stopped. "Nah, Mom, that one's really stupid." Well…more like embarrassing. It was from Nanette Himmelfarb's graduation party, and things had gotten a little out of hand.

Make that a lot out of hand.

"Oh, come on. It can't be that bad…"

Mark put his head down in his arms. Two straight hours…

* * *

"…we're watching this thing, and then, right there in his eight feet glory, Mark shows up, running around in nothing but his boxers," Collins said.

"What?! You stripped and had Roger film it?" Tara started laughing.

"I was drunk," Mark muttered.

"Oh my God," Tara managed to get out, "That's beautiful. I can't see you doing it, but now there's that huge picture in my head. That's great Mark."

"And, obviously," Collins said, with a big grin on his face, "Mark hasn't been back since. The next time Mrs. Cohen saw him was at the Life three years ago to meet Mo."

* * *

Bel opened up a jar of concealer. Shit, she was almost out. She shook the thing, to catch the last few drops on her finger, and then started dabbing her arm.

She winced as she hit a sick yellow bruise on her right upper arm. It didn't hurt two days ago. But that's one thing Bel had "learned"- it doesn't hurt until it's over.

She laid down on the bed and curled up. She needed to get away. For a very long time.

* * *

Roger walked into a music store. _Talk about long time, no see_. The last time he remembered being here was only what? Two, three years ago? The Nirvana poster behind the counter had been replaced by the Foo Fighters (not really much of a change _there_, if you wanted Roger's opinion), and the definite smell of weed was lingering around.

But he did find what he had been looking for.

Roger pulled out the CD from the five-buck bin. Two years. Two years since the last-the only, really- Well Hungarians album came out. Where were they now? Roger didn't know, it wasn't like any of them gave a fuck about him.

"Man, you buying something?"

Roger looked at the guy at the counter. "Nah, just looking."

The sales guy looked at him for a second. "Do I know you?"

"Nah."

"No way, man. Shit, aren't you that dude from the Hungarians? The one they kicked out?"

Why, out of everything, did the guy have to bring up _that_? Roger actually felt some red getting up to him. "Yeah," he sighed, "that's me."

The guy grinned. "Shit, man, they was fuckin' crazy when they did that. You wrote some serious shit back in the day."

"Thanks."

"Seriously, man, I listen to that thing all the fuckin' time, y'know? Your shit's heavy. I fuckin' love it."

Roger tried to smile. "Thanks, I appreciate it."

"Man, where've you been? Seriously, there's this band that sounds just like you guys."

Whoa. Roger hadn't been informed of this. "Really? What's their name?"

The guy sighed. "Okay, it's _my _band, but still, we're awesome. Here." He slid Roger a tape labeled "No Vacancy/Heartsick."

" 'No Vacancy.' I like it."

"Man, you gotta hear us live. We're playing at Roxy's this Friday. Just come in and ask for Theo."

"Um, okay." Roger began heading toward the door. "Thanks, I guess." Now, _that_ was fucked up.

* * *

PS: A disclaimer about Roger and Theo… Theo is from the completely awesome film 'School of Rock' and is played by the one and only Adam Pascal. Normally this would cause conflict in a fic, but my Roger was (and still is) played by Constaine Maourolis (sp), who looks nothing like Adam. (Think Roger as being very skinny, long brown hair, and really into the grunge look). Anyways… REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


	13. 13

AN: Thanks to those who reviewed last time. I love yunz!

Very short chap, but big things. I need to write more for this. Also, the rating might go up for language.

* * *

"Marky!" 

Mark shuddered. "Why does she do that? Why?!"

Tara laughed a little. "Oh, come on. It's not as bad as, say, Pookie, for example." She slung her bag over her shoulder and they started walking toward the front door.

"Hi, Mom." Mark, while completely embarrassed, did manage to give her a hug.

"I've missed you so much! Why don't you show up anymore for the holidays?" Hanna Cohen smiled. "And you are…?"

"Mom, this is my girlfriend, Tara. Tara, sigh this is my mom." Tara started to shake Mrs. Cohen's hand, but ended up hugging her instead.

"She's beautiful, Marky? How did you two end up meeting? You know I'm surprised he can even get a girl at all, carrying around that camera all-"

"Okay, Mom, I think she gets the point."

"It is an amazing thing, isn't it Mrs. Cohen?" Collins and Dave came up behind Tara.

"Thomas Collins, well, I'll be! You've just got the whole group here, haven't you, Mark, hon? Come in, get settled. Dinner's not for another hour and a half."

"Which means Cindy hasn't shown up yet," Mark muttered.

"Oh, be nice," Tara said.

* * *

"I have to go out tonight"

* * *

Bel left a note on the counter. _Going out to meet some friends. Be back before midnight._ At least she could trust Mimi with this sort of thing.

Fifteen minutes later, she was waiting outside a club. She didn't get the name of it, but this was where Paul wanted to meet her. She put on some lipstick, and looked around. Where was he?

"Lookin' for someone, Sweetheart?" A man with a dirty brown coat stood like five feet away.

"My boyfriend. Whatsit to you?" Bel stood up more. The last thing she wanted was to get raped.

"I've got somethin' that'll cheer ya up. Won't cost ya much. Free of charge, to be exact."

Bel pressed her lips. She was trying to get clean, some of the reason why she had run away.

But the craving was still there.

"Hey, how much's he chargin' you, babe?" Paul appeared right behind her. "No one shortchanges my girl."

"Hey, Tough Guy, you still owe me froms last week's shit."

Paul, who stood about six-one, and did work out a ton, basically hovered over the other guy. "I toldja, I ain't got the money. Give me another week."

"Fine. My offer's still up, Sweetheart," he said, giving and dark brown smile to Bel.

"Fuck off, asswipe," she said, and walked away.

* * *

Mimi threw her keys in the corner. "I just wanna sit _down_." She hit the couch and sighed. "You," she said, looking directly at her stomach, "are beating the shit out of me." 

Mimi stretched from where she was laying. "Hey, Rog!" She waited. Was that-couldn't have been…

Moments later, she found Roger playing in his room. "What are you doing?"

"Practicing."

"Why? Did someone ask you to be in their band?"

"No, not exactly…I'm cutting a demo. Next week."

What? "You're making a tape? Of what?"

He smiled. "Our song."

* * *

"I think that's simply awful, the two of you losing your parents at such a young age." Hanna cut her chicken and took another bite. "I mean, it's horrible to lose _one_, but both, my dear…" 

"Mom, _stop _it." Mark looked over at Tara quickly, and then saw Collins looking over at Dave. Why did she have to bring _that_ up?

"I know, Mrs. Cohen," Tara said, trying to resurrect the conversation, "Dave and I knew how to take care of ourselves."

"Well, I'm just glad you and my Marky found each other."

"God, _Marky_, I can't believe you found a chick." Cindy Cohen-Lippant smirked at her little brother across the table. "The only thing you were ever capable of loving was that stupid camera."

Mark contemplated the fact for second. "Hey Cindy, where's Jack?"

She stiffened, and then tossed her medium, curly brown hair over her shoulder. "Business trip to Detroit. He sends his regards, Mom." Turning her attention to Tara, she said, "Honestly, the man never had a date in high school. It wasn't until he moved to New York that Marky here actually _found _some action-"

"Cindy, really, you shouldn't use that kind of language," Hanna interrupted, "and Mark certainly did have dates. What about Nanette Himmelfarb?"

Tara nearly choked on her piece of chicken from laughing at Mark, turning a bright red. Collins just smiled. "Oh, yeah. Mark and Rog used to talk about her all the time," he explained to Dave.

* * *

"Hey!" Bel yelled over the thumping music. Paul came over with their drinks; a Coke for her, tequila for him. As he sat down, they kissed, long and hard. "I took care of that guy for you," Paul yelled back. 

"My God, what a creep," Bel took a sip of her Coke. "I missed you."

"Where ya stayin' now? Anna's place?"

Bel shook her head. "Nah. My sister's. Avenue B, it's called CyberArts." She blinked a little. Man, did she ever need to get more sleep. "Hey, Paul?"

"Yeah, babe?"

"Can you take me back? I don't feel too-"

The last thing Bel saw before she blacked out was Paul wiping her face down.

* * *

"So, little brother," Cindy said, smirking across dessert, "How exactly did you two meet?" 

"Broken hot plate," Tara and Dave said at the exact same time.

"Really? So what's like a date for you two, a cheap dinner and film?"

"Cindy, I got a job," Mark groaned.

"And I have managed to sell some of my poems. It's not much but it gets things paid." Tara smiled over at him. Mark only saw one thing that she was begging inside to say: _We should tell them_.

Mark cleared his throat. "Speaking of getting things paid, Mom, um, Tara and I, well, we're kind of-"

"-putting all of our eggs into one basket, so to speak," Tara finished for him.

"Are you moving out of that squalid loft? Not to offended you but you certainly have your father's talent for messiness, Mark. I mean, it's a wonder how I could have kept this house clean when you kids-"

"No. Um, Mom…Tara and I, well, um-" Tara held up her left hand.

"My dear God." Hanna Cohen almost fainted back into chair.

Cindy gaped. "Not only is he banging you, but you're getting hitched? Wow. _Mazel tov_, lil' bro, _mazel tov_." She looked over at a beaming Dave. "Lemme guess: moving to Massachusetts to do the exact same thing?"

Albeit the fact that to Hanna the joke was completely inappropriate, there were still a few smiles cracked-and that Collins had been thinking about something. Just not Massachusetts and weddings. Well, at least his own.

PS: Okay, I want at least seven or more reviews for the next two chapters. If I don't have at least thirty-five after my next update, I will hold the ending for ransom! So please, REVIEW! FLAME! DO SOMETHING!


	14. 14

AN: I'm sorry this took forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, my computer's being really stupid, it's got like a spyware bug or something, so that's why I haven't updated in like the longest time. That's all I need to say, thank you!

I own nothing.

Bel didn't remember coming home, or that Roger and Mimi pounded Paul with a ton of questions, or Paul calling for a taxi. That's how tired she was.

The dreams, on the other hand…

No, not dreams. Memories…

__

"Read me this one!" Isabel, age three, held up the book to Mimi. "Please?"

"Okay, okay." Mimi pulled her little sister closer on the couch. "Beauty and the Beast." One could hardly expect that this Mimi, a bright, happy fourth grader would later grow up to be the self-proclaimed "Feline of Avenue B." "Once upon a time…"

__

Bel hugged her worn bear as she huddled next to the door. Mimi didn't come home on time, and Curtis wasn't happy about it. She and Mimi never called him Dad or Papi or anything. He was just another of their mother's boyfriends- only that Coquina Maria Marquez wanted to marry him.

The door downstairs slammed. "Sorry, missed the train, couldn't find change to call, g'night," Mimi said rapidly and started pounding her way upstairs.

"Hold it, Michaela." Mimi cringed. She hated_ being called that. "You, young lady," Curtis said, "are in deep trouble."_

Bel opened her eyes a little bit. Mimi, now sixteen, was throwing clothes into her suitcase. "Mi?"

Mimi turned around. "Bel, go back to sleep."

"Mimi, what's going on? Are we going somewhere?"

Mimi bit her lip. Bel may have been nine, but she was still too young to known some things. "No. I'm going away."

"To Tia Theresa's?" Bel asked, regarding their favorite aunt, who continually doted on the two girls.

"No, not there. I'm going away for a long time."

"You'll visit, right?"

"Maybe." Mimi grabbed a bracelet off of her dresser. "Bel, I may not be back for a long, long time. But I'll come back. I promise."

Dave and Collins opened up the loft door. "Can you believe that Cindy said that to us?" Dave said, laughing.

"Yeah, it was kind of funny. It's been so long since I've seen her, too, and- Dave, you all right?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Come on, my sister's brutal for getting us up this early to drive back home. Let's get some sleep."

Only Dave wasn't all right. Because the second he had opened the door, he had smelled something that wasn't exactly pleasant for him. And while it was faint, that smell held too many bad memories for him.

Collins once asked why Dave hated him wearing cologne occasionally. His excuse was that the smell "cheapens a person." The real reason, however, was just too painful.

Maureen walked, muttering silently to herself for staying out all night with no extra cash. It used to be cocktails at the Clit Club (and occasionally getting some cock with the tail on nights when Joanne refused to go out), and clubbing all night.

Now sometimes it seemed clubbing was the only thing to do.

Maureen opened up her wallet. Five bucks. Her stomach rumbled, and she wanted pancakes all of the sudden.

At the same time, a small slip of paper fell out of her hands. Picking it up, she read the scrawled name and number on it. Alex…oh yeah. The cute blonde from Upper Manhattan.

"Pancakes definitely sound good," Maureen whispered, a smile growing on her face.

Roger gripped his guitar. Shit, why the hell was he sweating so much? Was he that afraid he'll fuck up? It's not like he had a week-that guy Theo managed to get him at least two hours in the studio.

Speaking of the devil, Theo was on the phone, apologizing for missing his band practice. And raving on about how great Roger used to be.

Really he shouldn't be getting that kind of flattery.

He felt a pair of hands wrap around his waist. "Nervous, Rog?" Mimi smiled up at him.

"You really want me to record this? I'm mean it's kinda private, and-"

"It's the song. I know this is gonna be it for you." Roger tried to smile at this but all he felt was like throwing up.

The door opened up and a guy, who looked only a few years older than Roger came in. "Mr. Davis?"

"Yeah, um, that's me. Call me Roger."

"Mike Jones. I'll be the supervising technician today. You ready to start?"

Roger's mouth immediately dried up. "Yeah. I'm ready."

Bel woke up to pounding headache. God, she hadn't felt this bad in weeks. What happened last night was a complete blur. "Mi?" she moaned.

Her sister didn't show up, but at least Dave was there. "Bel? Do you need anything?" he asked.

"A bottle of aspirin and some rum to chase it down with." This better had not be a fucking migraine; otherwise, she would have torn someone's balls out.

Dave came back with the aspirin, but with water instead of the liqueur. "What in God's name were you doing last night?"

"I. Was. Out." She _had_ left a fucking note, she wasn't that fucking stupid. Didn't anyone read it?

"With?" Dave was worried that Bel might have done something really stupid.

Like have gotten herself-

"No one! Can't I have a little privacy?!" She shot a menacing glare at Dave, who then decided get himself out of there.

Women, he decided, showed their true selves at times like _that_.

PS: Okay, mini-disclaimer about this whole Bel's boyfriend Paul thing: I originally intended Paul to be Tara's ex as well who just happen to be a homophobe and had beaten Dave after Tara dumped him (Paul). But then I decided that bringing him back was a really stupid idea, so let's just say that there's another guy named Paul. I don't know why that's his name. Blame my Kingdom Hospital obsession, the bad guy's name's Paul, too.

REVIEW PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	15. 15

AN: Okay, Im sorry that this took forever!!!!!!!!!!!! Just got new computer and finally figured out how to get the right files on.

Alana: With the wedding coming up, of course there's more Mo! Plus she reveals about her new relationship. Also, on the side, Benny's coming back soon!  
  
Liv: I know. Cock and the tail. (Disclaimer: I stole it off of "A Beautiful Mind" starring one Anthony Rapp!)

* * *

"Well, how was the recording session?" Tara asked. She, Mimi, Maureen, and Bel were waiting for their appointment at the wedding store.

"I don't know," Mimi said, absently biting a nail, "I mean, it's not like I've heard the song before. Just that last-" She paused. Mimi didn't want to tell Bel that she almost died last year, that a combination of Roger's song and a vision of Angel had saved her. "The last time I heard it, he did it to make up with me."

"Well, it worked," Maureen jumped in, "Look at you guys. You two are so disgustingly cute, not mention you're carrying the man's kid."

Bel, while recovering from what felt like a hangover, had to smile at that thought.

"Miss Wendko?" The attendant stepped into the room. "We're ready for you." Mimi turned back to the other two.

"Me 'n Roger are still stuck on names."

Maureen snorted. "Isn't obvious? Angel. Plus you don't have to worry about two names."

"What if it's twins?" Bel grumbled.

Completely ignoring Bel, Maureen continued, "Or at least, you're gonna name it after one of after one of us."

"Collins's name came up at least once or twice. You know what? I think I'll name it something totally outrageous."

"God, no, Michaela," Bel jumped in, "You really wanna scar the kind for life?"

Maureen raised her eyebrows at that retort. "Michaela? Boy, were your parents sick, or what?"

"Michaela was our great-aunt's name," Bel and Mimi said at the same time.

* * *

Mark knocked on the office door. He hated this crap. Day in, day out, it was the same shit, over and over again. _If I don't watch myself_, he thought, _I'm gonna end up like Benny_.

He shook his head quickly, as to banish the thought from his drained mind. Becoming a near-carbon copy of Benjamin Coffin the Third? That was the stuff that made up Mark's nightmares.

After another three or four knocks, the door finally opened up. "Daze, here's those production number papers things."

The short, perky to the point where Mark felt the need to vomit every time he saw her, blonde gave out a little giggle. "Thanks Marky, babe."

_I hate Marky_. "No problem. See ya."

"Mark! Wait!"

The man nearly shuddered. It was one thing to be continually called "Marky," to spend another minute with Daisy Richmond, was near to the point of Mark flinging himself out of the building's window.

She smiled, and giggled some more. "Mark, I was just wondering-if you're not busy, that is-"

"What is it, Daisy?"

"Doyouwannahavedinnerwithmeonfriday?"

Mark's jaw nearly dropped. "Daisy, I'm engaged. I can't do that!"

"Oh, it's just a little business thing. I'm sure she won't mind."

Mark, albeit being somewhat unpopular in high school, had been the object of many a junior high girl's affections back in the day. And he knew that Daisy was at least twelve years old. "No. I have to go back to work."

"Can you two at least come to my Labor Day barbeque?" Daisy yelled at Mark's retreating back.

"When Hell freezes over," he muttered under his breath.

* * *

"I've got it!" Maureen said, causing both Bel and Mimi to jump, "Angel Colin Davis. Has a nice ring to it, huh?"

"What if it's a girl, Mo?" Mimi automatically challenged.

"Angel Maureen."

Bel, having decided finally to take off the shades, said, "Mo. Give it up."

"I like Colin Angel, Maureen. I think it sounds nice." Mimi stretched and then patted her stomach. "What do you think, kid? Wanna go through life being called Colin?"

"Omigod, you guys have to see this!" Tara had missed out on the whole baby- naming issue, as she was trying to pick out from a number of dresses, for the last hour.

Tara came out of the back room, a total vision in white. The skirt was poufy and billowed out a little when she walked. She had on short sleeves, and the neckline was done in a curlicue-like beading.

For a girl who looked not too bad day to day, Tara was nominally beautiful.

"Ta, it's gorgeous," Mimi finally said.

"Wow, no wonder Mark wants you so bad," Maureen said, "I didn't know you had great little tits."

Of course that remark received four glares (two from the Marquez siblings, the other two from the assistants), a laugh out of Tara (but in a nice way), and Maureen stuck defending herself.

"I can't help it," she said, "I'm a fully functional, bi-sexual, 20th century woman."

"Bi?" Mimi asked as they went outside to wait for Tara.

"Well, yeah. I mean look at who I've stayed with the longest. Mark, Joanne, Alex "

"Alex? Who the fuck is Alex?" Mimi yelled.

"Just someone," Maureen said, smiling.  
  
PS: OOOOOH! Can't you guys just see little seventh graders from Scarsdale Jr. High fawning over a twelve year old Mark? Or maybe that's just me. Anyways, all I'm saying that I'll be able to update more often now! YAY! REVIEW PLEASE!


	16. 16

  
  
AN: Ok, it seems like I've had absolutely NO time to write this thing...but amazingly enough my social calender's been jam-packed. Huh. Interesting.  
  
Anyways, short filler between the end of August of beginning of September. Nothing too Earth-Shattering.  
  
Liv: yeah, I know, although the Mark-Benny comparisons will probably end there. The one-liners? Thank u, you have just made my day.  
  
I own nothing that Jonathon Larson's estate already owns.

* * *

"Bad day at work, darling?" Collins looked up from his sheaf of mediocre student papers to one obviously pissed Mark.  
  
"How many times do I have to say no to one person?" Mark sighed.  
  
"You're actually denying Tara sex?"  
  
"No." That was a surprisingly statement from the usually docile Mark that Collins had grew to know and love so well. "It's...someone else."  
  
"Oh? And who is this someone else of which you speak of?"  
  
"Look, she's just a chick at work who's got this high school crush on me. It's not a big deal."  
  
"Then why are you making it one?"  
  
"What?"  
  
Collins tossed the papers onto the card table in front of him. "You just said that this was no big deal?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"You're complaining about it. You're making it a big deal even if you don't want to be."  
  
Although Mark replied that one with the standard "Lay off the weed," his stomach was telling him a very different thing.  
  
Or was it his heart?

* * *

Now during the last month and a half while the loftmates were straightening out their own mess of problems, Benny was faced with at shitload of his own. First, the final divorce courts, where the Greys sued him out of nearly everything he had but the shirt off his back. And then the job hunting. Boy, that was a fun trip. Talk about your multitasking. His various short-lived careers ranged from piano-playing (which is how he fell in with Roger-an early band of his called for a keyboardist, enter Benny) to a bodyguard (the guy ended up being recently released from Bellevue, so technically that one didn't count) to a freelance writer, which what he was doing right now. Shit pay, but sometimes Benny was able to go out and enjoy himself.  
  
But what really got him feeling shitty was his test.  
  
Although the Greys hadn't been either cutthroat or overly sympathetic at the trials (they did allow him to keep the apartment- Alison ended up living at their summer home in the Hamptons), the topic of Mimi did arise, and her problem. Benny agreed to get himself tested, although Alison had to wait until he reported the results.  
  
Not a great thing to leave on the back burner.  
  
Right now, he was coming home from a magazine office, nearly bursting at the thought of his assignment. They wanted him to do a series on the lives of HIV/AIDS infected New Yorkers. How much more perfect could that be for him, when the possibility of Benny joining the ranks was very probable.  
  
He stopped at a pay phone a few blocks away from his apartment, feeling the stash of change weighing down in his pocket. He picked up the receiver and dialed a very familiar number.  
  
Someone picked up on the third or four ring. Amazingly enough, they didn't hang up on him.

* * *

Maureen rolled over in the beige sheets. Another great night with Alex-much more fun than what she ever had with Marky or Joanne.  
  
Speaking of which, Alex had gotten up earlier, and Maureen could smell the eggs crackling in the pan. "Mmm..."she groaned, "I love breakfast."  
  
She got out of bed and threw on a yellowing terry bathrobe. Not exactly her first choice, but then again, nobody's perfect. Maureen could live without the lap of luxury, no matter how nice it was most of the time.  
  
Alex was standing in the kitchen, clutching the frying pan. "Hey, babe. How do you like these things done?"  
  
Maureen smiled. "Sunny-side-up," she said, emphasizing each word. They kissed.  
  
"Bacon or sausage?"  
  
"Ooooh...sausage, please."  
  
Alex slid in even closer to her. "Toast?"  
  
"Maybe."  
  
Yeah, Maureen thought, I love breakfast.

* * *

PS: YES HE WILL BE BACK!!!!!!!!HAHAHA! Bonus props to anyone who can point out the sources of Benny's various odd jobs!  
  
Otherwise, I think the Alex-Maureen thing may be getting serious. I don't know. I have a wedding to plan.  
  
REVIEW PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	17. 17

AN: Crazy week! Had a bit of writer's block for a while, too.

And good news! I made my friend MidnightStar a Rent-head! YAY!

And now responses from the previous chap:

Liv: First of all, you're steadily becoming my new Constant Reader (not dissing u BohemianCane, I still love you too). And yes, I think you got all the Benny occupations! Although I was leaning more toward Malibu's Most Wanted with the bodyguard thing...I don't know, I haven't seen the movie yet.

Oh, and anything in italics is a flashback...I own nothing copyrighted!

* * *

September:

"You really think it should be this soon?" Tara wrung out her short reddish-brown hair. Although she had just gotten out of the shower, she was at least dressed. She did have her standards. "Dave, come on. It's September 5."

"And it's not for another month. We _can _manage it." Dave opened up his notebook. "Look, we've already got the dress, the place, and the reception booked. If I can get the orders for the wedding party, the invitations, and the flowers, we'll be able to pull it off by October 15."

"Dave's got a point," Mimi said, "Especially about the dress orders."

Tara did a double take of Mimi's stomach. "No way. No way there's a baby in there."

"Hello? You haven't noticed?" Tara shook her head. "Look at what I'm wearing, _chica_."

It finally dawned on Tara. Although Mimi didn't dress like a stripper every single day, her outfits tended to be on the skimpy side.

But Mimi was wearing jeans today. Low riders, sure, but still _they were jeans_.

"At least it's better than that S & M crap," Dave added.

"Okay, you win," Tara sighed, "I just don't think it can be done on time."

"Why not? Look at the guest list." Dave pushed the notebook over to her.

"Mark's mom, Cindy and her husband, Joanne Jefferson-why are we inviting her?"

"I still consider her a friend," Mimi said.

Tara continued, "_Aunt Vanessa? _You invited _Aunt Vanessa?_"

"Oh, come on," Dave said, "You were always her favorite."

"So were you."

"Um, I wonder why. I mean, I'm the one who Mom hauled over ever holiday to help decorate."

"Look, my point is that this isn't even a big wedding. Just a few close friends, okay? Besides, our closest friends are in the wedding party-Bel and Maureen are bridesmaids, not to mention you and Collins are ushers." Tara snapped the book shut. "This is going to be extremely tough to pull."

"Just remember, sis, never fear, Brother Dave is here. I'll have it all figured by then."

Tara and Mimi just looked at each other.

"Dave," Tara sighed, "you know, when you say that, I don't find it exactly comforting."

* * *

Roger scribbled out yet another bad line. God, no wonder he went on year and half writer's block period. Ok, he _had_ been doing smack for half of that time, but still. The Beatles, he considered, did half of their best shit on LSD, for Chrissakes'.

Mimi stormed in, and threw her flimsy jacket across the floor. "God damn him! God fucking damn him!"

"What happened, babe?" Roger put down his pen and rubbed his temple. _Please, please let this be the hormones talking_.

"I got fired."

Roger gaped up at her. "You just didn't say that."

"Oh, yeah. I did. Because I was late. 'Cuz, you know, it wasn't like I was puking my brains out..."

_

* * *

"Mimi?" She pulled her head away from the toliet. __Annabeth, a fellow stripper the same age as Mimi, just with another two years' experience in her fishnets, stood at the bathroom door. "You okay in here?"_

_"Yeah... I'm fine." Mimi grasped for the roll of paper towels most girls left in there. "Just baby troubles, that's all."_

_"Isn't it morning sickness? I mean, it's after one and all."_

_"I'll be okay." Annabeth helped her friend up from the floor. "Steve wants you," she told Mimi after they had straightened themselves out._

_Steve's office had changed little the two times Mimi had been summoned there previously- when she first started, and an "incident" with a Wall Street businessman. The cigarette ashes piled up on the little plastic ashtrays scattered everywhere, the room decorated in minimal pornographic fare._

_Everything about Steve Lillerio was smarmy- perfect for a strip-club manager. His greasy smile when Mimi came in matched his already greasy body._

_"Mimi, long time, no see."_

_"Yeah, what is it?"_

_"You've been putting on some baggage, ya know? Ain't a good thing for a working girl. Plus, some of the girls have been telling me you've been throwin' up every chance you've got."_

_Jesus, was he really that dense? "Christ, Steve, I'm pregnant. Shit like that had to happen."_

_"Girl, I'm running a strip joint, here, not a whorehouse-"_

_"It's my boyfriend's. God, get over yourself."_

* * *

"He fired you because of that?" Roger felt like going down to the Cat Scratch, and stabbing the guy.

"He does have a point, but come on!" Mimi sighed. "People in this world..." She shook her head.

Only Mimi had told him the first part of what happened on her last day in S & M.

_

* * *

She stormed out of the Cat Scratch. "Good fuckin' riddance." Mimi spit on the filthy back door._

_"Hey Cutie Pie, how've you been?"_

_This was the last thing she needed. "Listen, fuckface, I want you to get away from me. I'm through with that shit."_

_The Man smiled at her. "I ain't pushin' you, Cutie Pie, this is strictly causal. But man, you and your sister, you're feisty girls, aintcha?"_

_He didn't just- "How the fuck do you know my sister?!?"_

_The Man's brown grin grew even wider. "Same curls, Cutie. She looks a lot like you. A real Sweetheart, girlie."_

_Mimi's mouth opened. How in the world did Bel know the Man?_

_Or how did the Man know her?_

* * *

Dave walked into the kitchen, holding a the phone underneath his arm, talking wildly in it. "Yes, Ms. Estrin. I know your company's history with the party. But I'm just saying that it'll be a small affair. No crazed protests, I promise you...Okay, I'll be touch soon." He looked up and finally noticed Collins sitting there. "Aren't you supposed to be down at NYU?"

Collins opened his mouth, starting to say why he wasn't pumping the couch potatoes, but instead delivered a strong string of hacking coughs. After the little episodes, he managed to croak out, "Not feeling too good."

"Did you take your AZT?"

"You're turning into your sister," Collins managed to laugh out.

Dave almost smiled at that, but somehow he couldn't. "I'm just worried about you, Tom."

"Dave, I'll be fine. My immune system having a bit of an off day."

_Your immune system is always having an off day_, Dave thought,_ I just wish that it wasn't_.

* * *

"Tara, how do you stand it?" Mimi was sprawled out on Tara's couch. "Doesn't it get boring?"

"What gets boring?" she said, flipping through a copy of _Bridal_ magazine.

"Not working."

"Mimi, you've been unemployed for _one _day. You'll get used to it."

"Ha. Easy for you. You just sit around and write poems all day."

"No, I don't."

"Well, something's gotta be-" Mimi was interrupted by a harsh knocking at the door. Tara threw aside her magazine and got up to answer it. "Who is it?"

"Roger! Let me in!"

He burst in, looking all excited. His hair was a bit messed up, and his shirt was crumpled.

"Someone steal the hotplate, hon?" Mimi said, dripping with sarcasm.

"Nah, nothin' that exciting. Guess who just called?"

"Mr. Hamilton Grey, demanding his way overdue rent?"

"Why, do you still need help paying that off?" Tara asked.

"Are you really dense, or is the lack of sex dumbing you..." Roger trailed off. Bad idea to say that, as Mimi's eyes held nothing but pure murder. "Nah, it wasn't the Greys. Tara, you ever hear of Jeff Kristal?" She looked like the name was in Latin.

"Jesus, Rog, what the fuck happened that got you all worked up?" Mimi said.

"I got a gig. Next Tuesday. I'm headlining down at CBGB's."

* * *

PS: YAY for Roger and CBGB's!!!!!!! The wedding's closing in, and what's Collins hiding from Dave? I know, and you will if you please REVIEW!!!!

PPS: Well, the weather's getting nippy outside, and the stores are pushing copyrighted bookbags and lunch boxes. This can only mean one thing: IT'S BACK TO SCHOOL TIME! While usually this _does _dampen my fanfic writing schedule, it'll be even tougher this year, as I am moving to higher educational institution. (In English: College!) I might be taking the next week or so off to write the next couple of chapters before I go. So, NO FLAMING ABOUT UPDATES!!!


	18. 18 The Reason

AN: Ok! Big long chapter! I no own recognizable char. Or the song!

REPLIES:

Liv (BohemianCane): Ahem....crawls back into cave and promptly begins smacking self Man, if you think that was bad, you will really kill me now. DON'T HURT ME TOO BAD, PLEASE!

* * *

"You're taking another day off?" Dave slung the towel across the sink. Collins was sprawled out on the dingy couch.

"Dave, I'm sorry, I just feel really bad. I can't tea-"series of hacking coughs-"virtual reality like this to a bunch of NYU couch potatoes," Collins finished weakly.

Dave bit the inside of his lower lip. Collins was usually set with his work attendance. Meaning that in the time they had known each other, Collins had rarely taken a day off. Sure, he did take off once in a while, but those were mostly personal days. And even then, there had only been four of those- when Dave was in the hospital, and their dinner at Mark's mom's. No sick days. Until now.

"I want you to go see a doctor."

Collins nearly choked on his water. Now he sounded worse with ten millimeters of water and mucus in his lungs. "Why? It's a little cold..."

"No. I want you to go. Cuz that's not a little cold. People take Tylenol for 'little colds,' not sick days. You and I both know that something's really wrong here."

"I'll be fine, David."

Dave completely blocked out Collins's protests and grabbed the phonebook anyway. He returned ten minutes later, to tell Collins that his appointment would be tomorrow, one p.m. sharp.

* * *

Bel plunked down the 2.39. Starbucks was so not her atmosphere, but she was obsessed with mocha lattes whenever she got the chance.

She had a private busy life herself, too. While Mimi and Tara and Maureen where all getting upset over the wedding, and the guys with their things (whatever was going on in their lives; Bel didn't care what the fuck they were doing on a regular basis), Bel was continuing to see Paul. Paul- man, had they had a few weeks. He was treating her to New York's better nightlife, with people she only dreamed of seeing. Last night, she was sure she had been _seen_ by talent agents.

_Well, fuck you, Curtis_, she thought, a smile creeping over her face, _Remember when you told me to drop theater? I bet you'll come crawling to me for cash when _I'm _famous_.

The only thing was that Bel couldn't remember what happened for the rest of the night. She remembered the clubs, but as she played through the previous in her head, the night became a lot hazier. Stuff she couldn't remember.

Bel was clean. She wanted to get out of school clean, so any of that anti-drug shit that came through her high school wasn't wasted. Bel wasn't stupid. She had known that her sister had taken drugs.

Just what the fuck was going on?

Walking down the backstreets back to the Alphabet City, Bel took in the sights and smells and sounds of New York. She loved it here. No one could tell her what to do. She was free.

It was a good day. How good was a good day for Bel? Well, she even had the heart to stop and say hello to Paul's friend, the one with the brown teeth and dirty overcoat, who had yelled, "How ya doin', Sweetheart?"

It was a good day.

* * *

"October 15," Tara said, "what do you think? Too soon?"

"Nah, it's good." Mark twisted off his beer cap. "My problem is, can _we _pull it off without stressing out the sick bay?"

"I hope so. Did Dave tell you about Collins?"

"Yup. Better be good tomorrow. I don't think he could stand it."

"Who, Dave? Please, we're pretty much used to it by now." Tara tried to smile, but beneath the grin held the darker truth. Dave probably wouldn't stand to lose another person close to him- and if his reaction to contracting AIDS was bad, Tara was scared shitless of what would happened if Collins or even herself were to die.

"I meant Collins," Mark said quietly.

* * *

"It still needs a name." Mimi rubbed her ever-expanding belly.

"Come on, you've been throwing up for that thing for two months, and you still haven't found a name for it?" Roger capped his pen.

"Hey, I'm not in this alone, remember, Daddy Rog?"

"Fine. Any ideas?"

"The best I can come up- or even thought about is 'Colin Angel'," Mimi said, cupping her chin in her hand.

"Colin Angel? What the fuck were you on, woman?"

"For the record," Mimi, her voice laced with poison, said, "Maureen came up with _that_ one."

"Look, I've got no problem naming it after either Collins or Angel. But at least come up with a better name."

They sat there for fifteen minutes, arguing.

"Do you really wanna name it after one of our friends?"

"Hell yes! I mean, come on, these are the closest people in our lives, they're fucking family."

"I was thinking Teresa."

"Teresa? You're kidding me, right?"

"What? I think it's nice."

"Meems," Roger said, crossing over and taking her shoulders, "This is our _kid_. He's-she's- gotta have a name that's got some meaning. I would have no problem if you want to name it Angel."

"That's the thing, I don't want their name to be Angel."

Roger stared at her. She did not- "Why not?"

"Well, at least not their first name. I mean, that would be like, a stab against Angel and all she did for us." Mimi's eyes scanned the room before settling on an old, dusty photo album. "You got any choices?"

"I told you that I liked Colin Angel."

"I really don't like that name."

Roger looked upward. "Ok, how about...John? Good, neutral name. John Angel Davis."

"Nah..." She picked up said photo album and started flipping through it.

"I never thought it be hard...it's just a _name_."

"What about April?"

Roger's breath caught in his throat. "April? Why that?"

"Because." Mimi shut the album. "You really loved her. I mean, that's why you quit smack, didn't you? After she died." Roger slowly nodded. He had never told Mimi the real circumstances of his withdrawal, but she was nearly dead-on. "Besides," Mimi said, smiling, "she'll probably look like her, too."

"If it's a girl. Whenever she'll smile, probably," Roger said, "April Angel Davis. I kind of like it."

"I do too, babe."

* * *

"Marky!"

He cringed at the screech. If there was ever a time for a disgruntled ex-employee to come and blow the building up, this would have been it. At least Mark would have been able to escape the presence of Daisy.

"Hey," the girl said, tossing her shoulder-length hair back, "I missed you on Sunday."

"Isn't that an off-day?" Shit. That just sounded like Mark _was_ attempting a joke. Now Daisy would be hanging on him even longer.

"No, silly." Did she just call him _silly_? Where the fuck did she think they were, the fucking malt shop? "Sunday was my Labor Day cookout."

"Oh, well, something came up, so we couldn't make it. See ya later."

Rushing past the shocked annoyance, Mark started to consider the effects of a nine-millimeter bullet in his head. Fuck that, he had a wedding in a little more than a month.

* * *

Dave forced himself to gulp down the cheap cup of hospital coffee. It was either the disgust of Folgers Ground, or the fact that it seemed like one of those full circle things Tara sometimes talk about. He grappled with his AIDS situation here a two short months ago, now Collins was dealing with his own.

Dave wasn't a religious guy, but he had prayed to God that Collins would come out okay.

Tara, Mimi and Roger had even offered to come with them to the hospital but Dave turned them down. This was his and Collins's problem, besides they all had something to do that was more important. He understood that Collins was their friend (and did a wave of guilt _ever_ hit Dave after he turned them away. Surely, he was going to pay for that one), but this was also a private matter.

He paused in front of the door where Collins was, and immediately shut his eyes. _Please, please, God, make him be okay. I just want Collins to be healthy and happy. _Dave opened it to find Collins chatting amiably with the doctor.

"Great!" Collins said, with a grin, "Caffeine. Thanks, Dave." He took the Styrofoam cup from Dave's hands.

The doctor looked at the two, at the time engaged in a short kiss. "Ah. Young lovers." Dave smiled and nodded as he sat down on the bed next to the patient. "May I see you, Mr...?"

"Wendko. Dave."

The doctor, his nametag under glare from the hospital lighting, looked at Dave as he closed the door to the room. Before Dr. Ceia (so it seemed) said a word, Dave realized what was going on.

"It's that immune system. I wouldn't be surprised if the winter months would be giving him hell-I was shocked to hear he spent a semester at MIT. But it's gotten weaker over the past couple of months. His T-Cell count is steadily dropping."

"How long?" Dave's voice cracked.

"At best, February or even early March. But we never know exactly." Dr. Ceddia, shifting his arm, revealing his full name, reached out for Dave's. "I wish you and Mr. Collins the best of luck, Mr. Wendko."

Collins watched Dave walk back in, with watery eyes. He hadn't cried since Angel, but seeing Dave just made that emotional dam break up again.

"I don't want to tell them yet," was all Dave said. That was understandable. Some line from an old movie ran through Collins's mind, some nonsensical parody, but now it seemed to make sense. _This is supposed to be a happy occasion_.

_

* * *

_

AN: Ok...mini song-fic here...hope you like

_

* * *

"I'm not a perfect person. _

_There are many things I wish I didn't do  
but I continue learning. _

_I never meant to do those things to you.  
and so I have to say before I go, _

_that I just want you to know_

Benny grabbed one of his picture frames. Was it only really three years ago? They were all still friends- April was still alive, Collins didn't have AIDS, Mark and Maureen the Drama Queen were madly in love. To them, Alison Grey only existed in vapid gossip columns, not Mrs. Benjamin Coffin the Third, not "Muffy." __

_I've found a reason for me, _

_to change who I used to be  
a reason to start over new, _

_and the reason is you___

Bel walked in the amazingly empty apartment. Mimi had left her a note-she and Roger wanted a bit of a romantic evening (although Bel couldn't figure out how long that would last on the limited funds), same thing went for Collins and Dave.

She stashed her purse in her room, and went back out to fix herself a sandwich. But before she got to the kitchen, she stopped to check the messages.

Only Bel wasn't hungry anymore once she heard the first one.

"Mimi, _chica_? It's Mami. I'm calling to see if you've heard from Bel...Please call me back soon. Tell her we miss her? To come home? I miss both of my girls...you know the number." _  
I'm sorry that I hurt you, its something _

_I must live with everyday  
and all the pain I put you through, _

_I wish that I could take it all away  
and be the one who catches all your tears, _

_that's why I need you to hear___

Mimi stretched out on the blanket. "Baby's been quiet tonight."

"Yeah, no aftertaste of puke when I kiss you."

"Roger!"

"What?" He smiled. "It's true."

"Excited for Thursday?" she said, snuggling in closer.

"Am I excited? Babe, is Mark anal-rentative?"

"Ok, then that's a yes."

"There might be a record exec there. Man, I'd love it. A second chance."

"What about your friend Theo?"

"Theo?" Roger's face dropped at little. "Oh, yeah. His band's opening. Hopefully it'll be over quick."

"You don't sound too excited."

"What, about Theo, or declaring the love for you, babe?"

"I don't know," Mimi started to laugh.

Roger pulled her in closer, and they started kissing under the somewhat seeable stars.

_I've found a reason for me, _

_to change who I used to be  
a reason to start over new, _

_and the reason is you__  
_Mark really, really, _really_ did not want to go back home. It was that bad of a day- Daisy was one thing, but mind-sapping yuppie scum executives? Mark was ready to pick up Collins's copy of _the Anarchist's Cookbook_ (a joke gift from Mark and Roger, which resulted in a lesson in the history of anarchy) and use it for his own prowess.

Mostly he just didn't want to go home and be deluged by wedding details.

God dammit, a month before, and he was getting cold feet. Hell, Mark was even doubting that he should marry Tara. They hadn't even known each that long-why in God's name where they getting hitched anyway?

Unfortunately, Mark did find himself climbing the stairs to his apartment. Only once after he opened the door, that doubt just seemed to wash away.

Tara had fallen asleep on the couch, with magazines scattered around her. Take-out Chinese was sitting on the kitchen table, either cooling off or simply forgotten, depending on which way you looked at it.

Mark knelt down in front of her, moved a few strands of her hair before kissing.__

_I'm not a perfect person, _

_I never meant to do those things to you  
and so I have to say before I_

_go that I just want you to know_

Dave held Collins's hand. "I don't want to spoil the wedding."

"I know you don't."

"You'll be okay. Just take your AZT, and maybe..."Dave couldn't finish it.

"Mimi's a miracle case, okay? Shit like that don't happen to most people."

"But maybe..."

"Dave, look. There's a fucking plan for everyone. I know I sound Christian and all, but I think this is something bigger than me dying and leaving you all alone."

"Well, how am I supposed to believe bullshit like that?"

Collins looked down at the ground. "I don't know. Sometimes, you just gotta do." He looked back up at Dave, whose face was starting to stream with tears. "Don't act like that. Please."

"Why? You should be dead to me."

No. I'm still here." He cupped Dave's chin in his big, brown hands. "I sincerely love you. When I die, I want you-and Mark, and Roger, and all them- to celebrate that, got it?" He pulled Dave's face closer, and they kissed, Collins grasping the back of Dave's shirt, and Dave wiping his tears on Collins's brown leather jacket._  
I've found a reason for me, _

_to change who I used to be  
a reason to start over new, _

_and the reason is you  
I've found a reason to show _

_a side of me you didn't know  
a reason for all that I do, _

_and the reason is you_

* * *

PS: Yes, I know it's corny, but I'm seriously obsessed with that song. I've listened to it 22 times. Literally.

REVIEW PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!


	19. 19

AN: WOW! Even moving in, I got this up sooner than I expected. Or maybe that's because my classes haven't started yet. Anyways, so if it takes longer than usually between chaps. I've got a buttload of classes (but only 1 12.30 on Tuesdays & Thursdays! WOOHOO!!)

WickedElphaba: Thank you! Im glad the song didn't seem so corny.

Liv: Ahem...crawling into hole I'M SORRY! gives puppy eyes of hurt

I own nothing from the Larson estate. Theo and Dewey Finn are on loan from Paramount Pictures.

* * *

"You'll all be there around eight, right?" Roger threw on his beat-up, leather jacket.

"Yes. Tell the guy we're with Roger Davis, if all else fails, show him our picture," Mimi replied calmly, "Roger, chill. It'll be awesome."

"Really?"

"Huh-huh. Now show that music world what my man is made of." She leapt on him, pinning him against the wall, for some serious tongue-age.

After the impromptu make-out, Roger, smiling dumbly, said, "Okay. I'll see you later, babe."

"Break a leg!" Mimi closed the door, and flopped down on the couch. _I never knew that Rog was _that_ insecure_.

* * *

"What's Roger going to play, though?" Tara threw the dishtowel across the counter top. "Like, besides your song."

"I think covers. Or some stuff he did with his old band. I honestly don't know."

"Roger wrote a song for you?" Bel asked.

Mimi nodded. "Last Christmas."

"That's sweet," Bel said, returning her attention to painting her toenails. In all actuality, the fact that a song was Mimi's present? Completely stupid. Another reason why Bel was not thrilled about Rog.

"What are we talking about?" Maureen came in, tugging on her black jean jacket.

"Roger's show. You're coming, right?" Tara asked.

"Mm-mm. I even got a date for it too."

"The mysterious Alex?" Mimi said.

"You know me all too well." Maureen draped herself over one of the kitchen chairs. "So what's the man got lined up? Other than 'Your 'Crawling back as you are dying in front of me' Eyes'?"

Mimi shut her eyes. "_Maureen_..."

"What? What did I do?"

Bel looked up from her paint job. "_What?_"

Maureen looked back over to Mimi. "You didn't tell her about what happened last Christmas?"

"I wasn't planning on it," she spat out.

* * *

"Okay, Roger, right?" Some guy, just screeching yuppie, came up to him. "The name's Jason. Can I get a playlist or something like that?"

Roger had to absorb this before he could answer back. "Well, I haven't really thought about that...I mean, I was just going to do some of my own stuff."

"Hello? What's the band going to play?! You can't just improvise an entire show."

"First of all, I'm a bit more acoustic than I used to be. Secondly, the band..."

"LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!" (AN: Guess who that is...)

The two looked over at the doorway at the scruffy band filing through. "Rog! My man!" Theo yelled out.

"Hold on a sec." Roger jumped off the stage. "Dude, I need some serious help here."

"Never fear," Theo said, "What's the prob?"

"I need back-up."

"Ah ha!" The younger musician clapped Rog on the back. "Lemme talk to the guys, all right?"

* * *

"You almost died? Why didn't you mention it before?" Bel flopped down on the couch.

"Because I didn't want to freak you out like you are now! I'm sorry! You're my sister! I couldn't do that to you!"

"So that's what you've been doing the last five years?!"

"Well, what did you want me to do?"

"Come back maybe?"

"Why the fuck would I want to?"

"YOU LEFT ME THERE!" Bel swallowed. She looked down at the floor and started muttering in Spanish.

Tara closed her bedroom door even further. "Why did you do that?"

"Listen, I thought she already told Bel." Maureen crossed her legs. "Excuse me if I didn't know."

"Yeah, well, I would've checked."

"Yeah, well, I'm not you, am I?"

* * *

"Coming!" Dave flung open his apartment door. "Hi."

Benny stepped into the loft. "Well. This is certainly...different. Not as messy. So, where's Collins?"

"Grading papers in our room. Can you make this quick?"

"Why?"

"Roger's gig tonight."

"Roger got a gig?!" This was the same Roger who couldn't pay up rent a few years back? And now all the sudden he was getting gigs. "When did this happen?"

"Oh, a few weeks ago. So, do you want this interview, or what's going on here?"

"Yeah, ok."

* * *

"Mark! Let's go!"

"I'm coming!" He grabbed his trademark scarf and the camera.

"Do you really need to bring that?" Tara asked, leaning on the doorframe.

"Fuck, why not? It's Roger's first _real_ gig."

"I thought he already played at CBGB's."

"Oh yeah..."Tara shook her head as they walked down the hallway. "Look, Bel, Dave, Collins and Maureen are all gonna meet us there, all right?"

"That's completely fine with me."

"Yeah, I should warn you now."

"About what?"

"Actually about two things."

"What are they?"

* * *

"Meems! My _chica_!"

Mimi stood up on her tiptoes to see Maureen waving frantically. "Hey girl!"

Maureen came running up to the club front, dragging along with her a sort of medium-sized blond. "Is this the infamous Alex?"

"Hi," Maureen's lover stuck out a hand, "You're Mimi? This guy's girlfriend."

"Yeah, and father of my unborn child."

"Oh." Alex's eyes widened. "Mo didn't mention that part."

"Well, some things you just need to find out for yourself." Maureen glared over at Mimi.

Mimi bit the inside of her mouth to stop herself from yelling at her. "Collins and Dave are inside, waiting. By the way," she said, smiling, "First ten drinks on the house."

"YES!" Maureen pumped her fist in the air, and then grabbed Alex's hand. "Let's go, baby!"

Mimi shook her head, and started back into CBGB's. Ok, even though she and Bel were still fighting, maybe today wasn't going to be even worse.

"Hello, Mimi."

Her breath caught in her throat. She whirled around, springy brown curls hitting her face and sticking to her lip gloss, and found herself staring into a _very _familiar pair of chocolate brown eyes.

"What the hell are you doing here, you fucking bastard?"

* * *

PS: OOOOH! Mini-cliffie! Cookies for anyone who can guess who it is. I apologize for keeping you waiting. REVIEW! PLEASE!

Next chap teaser: ROGER'S SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	20. 20

AN: YAY for college! Ok, no Rentheads (yet), but still the two hour breaks rule! Yes!

Replies:

Liv: im working on the length! There's only so much I can write for a chap!

WickedElphaba: Alex is nice, however Mo is her/his lover (see note below). The Rent gang as a whole is nothing compared to the Tango: Maureen.

ANPS: Hey, just as a lil' thing that kind of ticked me off: Where is the assumption coming from that Alex is a girl? To the best of my knowledge (hell, I'm the one _writing_ this), I never said if Alex was a man or woman. Look at the previous chaps. I never even mentioned Alex's sex. Remember Mo's "Fully functional, bi-sexual, 21st century woman" statement three or four chaps ago (I think)? That meant that her next conquest could be either man or woman. But eventually, I'll have to stop with confusing you all b.c. it's just too hard to write a character and not use definite pronouns. Thanks.

* * *

"Why's Benny coming?" Mark asked as he and Tara turned around the street corner. 

"Because my brother and Collins invited him. And it was a nice gesture."

"May I just remind you that the second Roger sees him, he will not hesitate from impaling that Fender into that void where Benny's heart used to be."

Tara was silent for a second. "Shit. I forgot about that."

"Yeah. Might have been nice to inform Rog about this."

"Well, haven't you guys ever thought about giving Benny a second chance?"

Mark stared at her for a while. "You really need to get a clue about what's going on here, you know that right?"

* * *

"The nerve of you to actually show up-" Mimi started. 

"Hey, listen, it's not like I'm here to make things a living hell." Benny shifted his bag. They were still standing outside of CBGB's, although the show was supposed to be on in about a half hour.

"Really?"

"Yeah, so before you start making accusations about my motives, why don'tcha talk to Collins and them?"

"I wouldn't give a shit about who invited you." She started to storm back into the club.

"Meems." She turned her head back to Benny. "I really want to make amends. As far as I know, I'm in the same boat with you guys."

"Yeah, right. You're poor now, so what? You nearly ripped us apart."

* * *

"Finally glad to meet you," Dave shook Alex's hand. "I definitely can see why Mo's been talking continuously about you." 

"Come on, Al, pookie," Maureen said, draping herself over her lover, "Let's get drinks."

"No choice, huh?" Alex started laughing, being dragged over to the bar by Mo. Dave watched them go up to the front. "I thought Maureen dated Mark once."

"They did. Didn't you know that's Mo's bi?" Collins took a sip of his beer.

"I always thought they broke up because she discovered the joys of being gay."

"Nope. This Mo we're talking about, remember?" Before Collins could even start in on his next sentence, Mimi stormed over to their table. "Why? Why did you two have to invite _him?_"

Collins, befuddled for a second, looked over at the club's door, where Benny was paying the cover fee. "Oh, boy."

"Honestly, Collins, I really thought you would know better to invite _Benny_."

"I didn't invite him, though."

Mimi's eyes widened. "What?"

"Meems, hon, I thought- I thought," Dave said quietly.

* * *

Roger popped his AZT, although he felt like he was going to throw it back up any second. The first time in...well, a year and a half but it seemed like a lot longer. In all honest, Roger couldn't remember the last time he played in a live show. Usually from being too strung up on the high. 

He fumbled around on the guitar strings. What was it he used to cover here? Some old Ramones song- fuck, why not? He was at CB-fucking-GB's. "If you think you can win," he half sang/mumbled, "well, come on man."

* * *

"They made it!" Dave stood up from his seat and started waving his hands around. Everyone else turned around to see Tara and Mark running in. "Sorry, traffic was murder out front," Tara said, shaking off her jacket. 

"Where's the resident yuppie scum?" Mark asked. Of course, considering the look of pure murder written all over Mimi's face shut him up.

_"Ladies and gentlemen..." _an MC up on the stage started.

"Jesus Christ, were we running _that_ late?" Mark whispered over to Dave.

"Could be the opener."

"Oh yeah."

_"CBGB's is proud to welcome back...Mr. Roger Davis!"_

The crowd out on the floor screamed their approval as Roger with some other guys took the stage. "Rog was that popular?" Tara and Mimi asked simultaneously.

Roger shielded his eyes for a second as he stepped up to the mike. "It's great to be back here, you guys. This is a new one.

_Heal me, I'm heartsick  
I'm hungry and I'm broken  
I'm haunted, and weeping  
_

_The blood of heaven flowing like a river tonight, tears I can't fight on my own  
I'm a haunted, heaving, I'm hung and barely breathing  
The drowning ocean, snuff the sun in motion.  
There's a pill on my tongue, a shot from a gun , the bottles bottom  
I'm lonely as a star_

_So heal me, I'm heart sick  
Hungry, but I can survive on you  
Heal my heartsick hungry cries  
I'm heartsick  
_

_Father, free me. mama , woman, feed me.  
Child of fury, lost his way but don't worry.  
I won't stop til the dawn,  
Though I'm in too long on the run I grow strong and restless as a dog  
_

_Heal me  
I'm heart sick  
I'm hungry and I'm broken  
I'm haunted, and weeping  
_

_The blood of heaven flowing like a river tonight  
Tears I can't fight on my own_..."

"WHOA!" Tara's jaw dropped. "Damn, he's good!"

"Yeah, I told you so," Mark replied, smiling.

Roger and the band broke out into another, faster-paced song, "_She came from a happy home, a very happy home..._"

"Who's the band?" Maureen asked, only to replied by various shrugs and "Who cares?"

"_What went wrong? We couldn't tell..._"

"Hey, Mo, this song's about you!" Dave said, laughing.

"FUCK YOU!" Maureen also felt compelled to give him the finger, although Alex was nearly crying from laughing.

* * *

Benny leaned up against the bar, watching his old friend rock out on stage like he had many a time before. Of course, he would have liked to be with the group, but since last Halloween, no one made a point to even speak to him. Except for that Dave guy. And Collins. And Tara. 

"Great band, huh?" He turned to the girl next to him. "Yeah, Roger's cool."

"I bet!" she said, laughing. Even with the dim light, he could've sworn he knew the girl someplace else. "So, you here with any friends?" she asked.

"I guess...they're all over there."

"Ah. Drink gopher. I get it."

"Nah...it's not, I mean-"

"They're not nice to you? God, what are you in high school?"

"No," he mumbled, "it's a lot more complicated than that."

"I see." She tossed her curly, brown hair back. "Well, I'd go over and buy them a full round. Maybe that'll show them. It was nice meeting you," she finished, while waving a hand.

_That...nah, couldn't have been_, Benny thought. He looked back over at the table where his "friends" were congregating . "Hey man!"

* * *

Roger went backstage, where a stagehand handed him a bottle of water. "That was un-fucking-believable!" Theo kept saying. 

"My man, you don't know how much I wanna thank for that," Roger said.

"Honor was all ours. You know we do have another hour to go."

"Yeah, I know." Roger picked up his acoustic. "I just need it to cool down a notch."

Quickly changing into a black, button down shirt, he bounded up the stairs that lead to the main stage. The roar of the crowd came the second he stepped on. Grabbing a stool from the stagehand, Roger planted himself in front of the mike. "This next one's 'bout my girl Mimi." Mimi bit back her lip, and actually blushed a little as Rog began "their" song.

_Your eyes  
As we said our goodbyes  
Can't get them out of my mind  
And I find I can't hide  
_

_From your eyes  
The ones that took me by surprise  
The night you came into my life  
Where there's moonlight I see your eyes  
_

"Meems?" But Mimi didn't really hear Tara, all she could keep thinking about was last Christmas. _  
_

_Why does distance make us wise?  
You were the song all along  
And before this song dies  
_

_I should tell you I should tell you  
I have always loved you  
You can see it in my eyes_

Obligatory cheers from the audience, while the loftmates sat in abject silence. "Wow," Dave said, sounding mystified.

"That was...really different." Mark put down his camera. Unfortunately it was almost toppled over by Mimi rushing to the closest bathroom. "She okay?"

Maureen slapped him in the back of his head. "Idiot. No wonder I broke up with you."

"Come on, Mo," Tara said, "Let's go check on her."

The two former enemies barged into the ladies' room. "Meems, girl?" Maureen called. One of the stalls opened up to reveal Mimi, her face streaked with mascara. "Sorry, you guys," she whimpered.

"Aw, Meems..." Tara said, "We understand."

Maureen nodded. "Yeah, girl. You had every right to cry."

"Really? Thanks." Mimi smiled weakly. And then she grimaced a little.

"Mimi? Everything okay?" Maureen asked. Mimi, on the other hand, dove back into the stall, from which the two women could hear retching sounds.

"Yeah, she'll be okay," Tara replied.

Meanwhile, on the club's floor...

"You want to do what?!" Collins put his head in his hands. "How long have Mark and Benny been fighting?" Dave whispered.

"Ever since Muffy," Collins mumbled back.

"What the hell were you thinking that we were gonna do here?" Mark yelled.

"Maybe invite me over, like a friend would!" Benny yelled back, despite the fact he was impressed with Mark lashing out at him.

"Really? I thought we weren't friends anymore, ever sin-"

"Why are you guys even fighting?" Alex suddenly said.

The two of them looked over at the three sitting at the table. "Benny?" Collins moaned.

"Yeah?"

"Where's the best place to get drunk?"

Benny looked skywards. "Got a bottle of good shit back at the apartment." He turned to Mark. "You still need to get drunk with me, you know that, right?"

"From what?"

"I don't know. Mostly from last October."

Mark thought about that for a second. He really _did_ wanted to go top one off for Angel after the funeral, but that interview..."Sure, why the fuck not?" Hell, maybe that's what Angel had wanted.

Mark ran into Tara and Maureen as they were coming out of the bathroom. "Come on, we're going back to Benny's place," he said.

"Who are you and what the fuck have you done to Marky?" Maureen asked.

Mark's eyes narrowed. "_I hate Marky_."

"Okay. It's you. So why are we getting drunk with Benny?"

"Because. He's got some back at his place."

Maureen smiled at Tara and then back at Mark. "I'm in."

They started to all leave, except for Tara who was still staring at them in shock. "I'm not touching any of that shit, I hope you know!!"

* * *

"Night, guys!" Roger yelled, after beating away random groupies. Damn, he felt good- a whole lot of a fuck better than ANY high. "Watch out, New Yawk," he said in his Queens imitation, "Roger Davis is back, baby." 

"Really now?" He turned around to see Mimi hugging her coat together.

"Hey. What'd you think?"

"You were great." She smiled. "Make that wonderful."

"Where's everyone else? You're not going to take me home, so we can have sex together, right?"

"Maybe."

"So," Roger said, shifting his guitar case, in order to slide his arm around Mimi, "besides the groupies, how was it?"

"I just told you, you idiot, it was great."

"Then why'd only you stay?!"

Mimi slapped her hand against her head. "April had better not get your idiot genes."

"I'm insulted that you would say something like that about our unborn child."

"Roger," she said, turning around to face him better.

"What?"

"I still love ya, you idiot." Mimi stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him.

After they pulled away, Roger smiled. "Okay. It was a good show. Let's go home, babe."

AN: Ooooh! Guess who Benny saw!! ; ) I don't own any of these lyrics. We all know where "Your Eyes" is from. "Heal Me, I'm Heartsick" is from (what else?) School of Rock. The song Roger randomly sings is the Ramones' "53rd & 3rd" and the other song performed during the show is also from the Ramones, "Daytime Dilemma (Dangers of Love)" I highly recommend all of them! ; )

REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	21. 21

AN: Okay NOW its getting tougher to write this between classes...I have too many papers, lol

Liv: Gotta love the Ramones, that's all I can say.

This chap is dedicated to Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs!! Heeheehee...

And hey! I have 21 chapters! FREE DRINKS ALL AROUND! MY STORY IS OF LEGAL DRINKING AGE!!!!!! Hahaha...I'm spending WAY too much time school, lol.

* * *

Mark opened his eyes. God, did he feel sick. "My head hurts..." 

"Join the club, hon," Tara said, appearing at the bedroom door.

"What the hell happened last night?"

Tara smiled a little, thinking about how the tables had been turned this time. "There's a reason for you to have had that camera last night. Please tell me you remembered the show."

"That, yes. Everything afterward, fuck no." He looked to see Tara smiling at him. "You didn't. Please tell me you didn't."

"I did. Every minute of it."

"Oh, Lord."

"Mark, it wasn't that bad!" She started dragging him into the living room. "Come on, you can watch in the privacy in your own home."

"Can I at least call torment rights?"

"Yes..." Tara flipped on the projector as last night's events began to spool out on the wall.

_"To Roger!" Benny said, lifting the champagne bottle. "May his career be blessed with many screaming fan girls," Collins added, resulting in mass peals of laughter._

"Wait- I thought you said you didn't have anything to drink," Mark pointed out, as the image did show Tara having a glass with the rest of them.

"It was _just_ champagne, I didn't have any hard shit, like the rest of you."

"Define hard shit." Tara sank down into the couch, smiling.

* * *

"Ow ow ow ow...." Maureen massaged her temples. This never happened when she went out to the clubs. Now she was sitting on the floor of _Benny's_ apartment, with a fucking _hangover??_

Benny slammed his bedroom door. "Don't do that!" she yelled.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Nothing, I'm all perky and happy." She shot him a murderous look. "What do you think, ya yuppie scum?"

"Being that I lost all my money, can I really be defined as yuppie anymore?"

"Shut up." Benny smirked at her and then sat down at the stool in front of his shitty keyboard. "When did you get that thing back?" Maureen pulled her legs up to her chest.

"Always had it layin' around somewhere. Alison used to play it, too, y'know."

Maureen smiled. " 'Member Tequila Karaoke Night?"

"Do I ever. You and Mark always cracked me up."

"Hello, Madonna lap-dances always got him hot."

* * *

Roger stirred a little. Was that...nah, Mimi wasn't _cooking,_ was she? 'Cuz that sure as hell smelled like bacon to him. 

While the thought of breakfast in bed was extremely tempting, Roger wasn't going to be the asshole for once and actually got out of bed to see what was going on.

Unfortunately, that did not include Mimi cooking. She was on the couch, looking like she did get up, but just had fallen asleep there. Dave was cooking, with Collins complimenting him every five seconds.

"Come on, it's just too much. I've got a noon class AND I have papers to grade for tomorrow."

Dave laughed. "A little longer, Tom, please. You can grade your papers here, you know that, right?"

"Do you really think I'll be able to get any work done?" Collins picked up his bag. "Look, I'll probably be home a little later if I wanna finish this crap."Dave pouted, until Collins whispered something that Roger would probably NOT wanted to have heard, although he knew what they were talking about (fuck, he did almost every night with Meems).

Dave giggled. "Okay, I'll see you later," he said, pecking Collins on the cheek.

"Rog!" Collins finally noticed that he was alive and breathing. "Great last night. I never thought you would be able to pull it off. At least without the smack."

"Shut up, Weed-Man."

Collins bit his lip a little. "I'll see you guys tonight, okay?" He hurried off before Roger or Dave could say anything else.

Rog looked back at the other gay man. "Great show, Rog!" Dave chirped.

However, before Roger could say anything else, someone downstairs started screaming. Okay, it was more like yelling. To be even more specific, it sounded like Mark yelling, "WHAT THE FUCK?!?!!?!"

* * *

"What the hell _did _happen last night?" Benny asked, handing Mo a glass of orange juice. 

"Do you think I have any idea?" She sipped her drink, and then nearly slammed it down. "Oh, _shit_, Alex!"

"So _that's_ who that was." Benny dug out a little slip of paper. "She wanted to give this to you."

Maureen grabbed it from Benny's still-possibly-greedy-little fingers and scanned it quickly.

_Mo-_

_Sorry that I left you there last night, but I didn't want you freaking out at me in the morning. Don't worry, I think you'll be okay with Benny._

_Call me when you get back home, 'kay?_

_Love,_

_Alexis._

* * *

"No fuckin' way," Roger said. He, along with Mimi (who was not happy that Mark woke her up from her little cat nap) and Dave were standing in Mark and Tara's apartment, watching the film of last night. In particular, one of the more..._romantic_ scenes, so to speak. 

"You think Alex knows?" Dave asked.

"Fuck, she'll be the next victim," Mark said, "although Mo was never drunk when she cheated on me."

"Can I ask you guys one thing?" Mimi said, "Why the fuck were you at _Benny's _last night?"

"Booze," Mark and Dave replied.

"Can't blame them there, babe." Roger shrugged sheepishly after Mimi gave him her murdering stare.

"Well, hate him, or not," Dave said, "I've never seen Maureen as the type who would go after Benny?"

"She was drunk," Tara re-iterated.

"They still made out! The camera does not lie!"

* * *

Bel pushed the door open. "Thanks for letting me stay the night, Paul." 

"No problem. So...your sister's boyfriend's some big rock star now, or what?"

"I'm not even associating with her."

"Ah." Paul looked around the loft. "Say, where's the shit-can?"

"That way, first door on the left." She threw her jacket into the corner.

While Tara and Maureen had extended an offer to go and see Roger's show, Bel choose to decline. It was one thing that she almost killed Mimi earlier yesterday, and really, she couldn't stand seeing her get all cozy with some idiot who banged her up. So Bel opted for the usual: a night out with her friends. Paul was even nice enough to let stay the night at his place, a great apartment in Upper Manhattan.

"Don't they ever clean in there?" Paul asked, slamming the door.

"You would think, with two fags living here." No offense to Collins or Dave, Bel loved them both to death, but Paul wasn't exactly about to stand with them to shout "We're here, we're queer, get over it!"

"All right. I gotta meet some guys up in town today. You gonna be okay?"

"Uh-huh. Can I stay over again if I gotta?"

"Sure thing, babe." He kissed her. "I'll talk to ya later."

Bel flopped down on the couch after he left and stretched out. Nap time. Maybe if Mimi came back, she wouldn't be to pissed with her...

Unfortunately, Bel had just started to fall asleep when someone started knocking at the door. "God damn it." She got up and threw it open. "What-" almost came out but her breath caught in her throat.

* * *

"Alex!" Maureen squealed. "I'm so sorry, honey, Benny and I were catching up on old times." 

"It's okay, Mo, I understand. So, is everything patched up between everyone?"

"Not really. As they say, how can you leave the past behind?"

"Yeah, I guess. So, you two are fine now?"

"Yes. I've always been okay with Benny. Except for what happened around Christmas a couple of years ago, but other than that...What's wrong, Pookie?"

"Nothing. I'll be over around nine tonight, okay?"

"Fine." Maureen hung up the phone. What the fuck was Alex talking about anyway?

* * *

"Come on, Rog, it'll be a perfect revenge! We can finally get Benny back!" Mimi pleaded. 

"Go ahead, if you wanna piss off Mo. I'm not gonna have anything to do with it." Roger smiled a little.

"You are so much fun." Mimi turned the knob to the loft. "Bel? You home?"

"Yes..." Bel's voice drifted out from the kitchen.

"What is it with you two?" Roger said, stepping back a little to avoid another Mimi rampage, "You and Bel go from like pissed to okay, in like two seconds."

Mimi shot him the finger as she headed over to the kitchen to apologize to Bel. Only she stopped dead when she saw who else was in there with her little sister.

"Hello, Michela. I see you're doing very well."

Mimi's eyes drifted from Bel back to their guest. "Curtis. It's nice to see you, as well."

Roger definitely felt the tension going on in the kitchen. Knowing from complete personal experience of what may happen to him (and quite possibly Dave) if he even got involved, he grabbed his remaining roomie and dragged him down to the Life.

"What the hell is going on, Rog?"

"Trust me, if you don't want to be castrated, you better come with me."

* * *

AN: Hee hee hee... Benny and Maureen-ness. Not that they'll be hooking up or anything, but hey, I got a massive overload of Taye over the weekend, and I HAD to do it. : ))) That and Tequila Karaoke Night...Can't you just see them all drunk? No wonder they have so many problems... Anyways, why the hell is Curtis there??!! 

REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	22. 22

AN: I'm sorry!!!! Had the biggest writer's block for this chapter. And thanks to a combination of Liv, and my discovery of Rent bootlegs, and my acquisition of the CDs for Wicked and tick, tick....BOOM!, I finished this! YAY!!!!!!

Right. So if Maureen seems to start quoting Wicked, or if any of the others start into a foreign language, or quoting some random Rent-related thingy, that's why!

* * *

"So...this is what you've gotten yourself into," Curtis said, leaning back in the kitchen chair. "Still working as a slut?"

Mimi bit her lip from screaming at her stepfather. "I'm done at the club, but still lookin' for work." Bel sank down further in her chair. Contrary to last night, this was torture for the two of them. "What are you doing here?" Mimi finally said.

"Your mother. She's in the hospital." A pair of cold green eyes glared at her. "She wants you two to see her again."

"Why? Did something happened at home?" Mimi looked over at Bel, who was slouching down in her seat. "What's wrong with Mami?"

"Meems, I-" Bel started but she was cut off by Curtis. "Your sister didn't tell you?"

"What?"

"Coquina's got emphysema. All those years of chain-smoking, after you left, Michela. She's in the hospital."

Mimi started to feel dizzy. _I need to go lay down_...

* * *

"Professor Collins?" The staff secretary poked her head in his office door. "There's someone here to see you..."

Collins shuffled through his stack of Basic Computer Theory exams. "Yeah, sure, send them in." Yet another couch potato lost in the grades. Thank God for the small amount of hackers in his class, although it could be one of them, inquiring about the 'Actual Reality' theorem-

"Geez, no wonder you're so sick. Do you even dust?"

He looked up at the door. "Dave! What are you doing here?"

Dave perched on the desk. "Roger kicked himself and me out of the apartment for the morning. Apparently, someone Mimi knows- she wasn't too happy to see them either- was there, and here I am."

"And Roger is...?"

"Down at the clubs, trying to get another show. Busy? Wanna go get some coffee?"

"My next class isn't until 11:30...and it's ten now..."

"Let's go!"

* * *

Mimi flopped back on her and Roger's bed. "Mami..." she whispered. They had kept in touch after the first time Mimi had come back home from running away. Two years ago, after she had turned eighteen.

Since then, Mami just had been keeping tabs.

Someone started knocking at the door. "Meems, it's Bel."

"Go away."

She ignored her sister and came in anyway. "Look, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you. I mean, did you want me to burst in and say, "Hey, by the way, Mami's dying because her chain-smoking habit? I can't do that."

"So? You're all pissed at me for not telling you what happened to me last Christmas. Why do you think I didn't tell you that?"

Bel's breath caught in her throat. "Look, Meems, I'm sorry."

"I'll forgive you," Mimi mumbled in a pillow.

"He's here to take me back."

"What?" Mimi looked up. "I mean, he's practically disowned cuz I ran awa-" Bel mumbled something very quickly. "What did you say?"

"I didn't run off. I got kicked out."

"Why?" This was news to her. Bel was just as independent as she was, so if she HAD run off, Mimi would not be surprised.

"They found a pregnancy test in the garbage."

"Bel-"

"It was only once and I wasn't pregnant, the thing was wrong anyway. I came home from school and Curtis said I had an hour and a half to get the hell out of there."

Mimi looked away from her younger sister. That hurt, what Bel just said. "We're falling apart, aren't we?"

"We've been. Since you left."

"Bel?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's go see Mami."

* * *

Dave blew into his coffee cup. He was waiting for Collins to get back with his drink and some of the food they had ordered. So now it was just Dave, his coffee, and Collins's briefcase.

Some of the papers had spilled out of the top, mostly what Collins was fond of calling "those pieces of shit that can pass as a thesis these days." Now Dave respected his love's privacy, but upon the nearly daily hearing of how bad most of these things were, he couldn't help himself.

So he took a handful. Dave knew shit about computer theory but he couldn't help thinking how bad they actually WERE. And these students were going to NYU, for crying out loud.

He flipped over to the next paper, a single handwritten sheet. Not just anyone's handwriting. Collins's.

On the top was written _Ti Copriro d'Amore_, and some lines of poetry underneath that.

_Live in my house,_

_I'll be your shelter,_

_Just pay me back _

_With one thousand kisses..._

"Can you believe how long this took just this?" Collins came back to the table. "Dave? What are you reading?"

"Tell me about him," he said, quietly, folding up the piece of paper, "Angel. The poem. Everything."

"I think that'll take longer than a coffee break."

* * *

The nurse peered over her glasses at the two Hispanic girls standing in front of her. "We're looking for Coquina Marquez-Peterson."

"Hmm...lessee here... Can you spell that?"

Bel sighed, as Mimi oh-so patiently spelled out their mother's maiden name. "Room 203, but I'm not sure if-"

"Thankyouverymuch," Mimi said, grabbing Bel's hand as she started to run off towards their mother's room.

"You're going to tell her, right?' Bel managed to get out as they continued down the hall.

"Of course! I'm not gonna let her die without knowing she's got a grandchild on the way!" Mimi managed to get out, "Oh, hi, Dr. Hook!"

"And that is?"

"My gyno."

"He's kinda cute!"

They almost missed their mother's room, especially after Bel yelled out, "Shit, Meems, 201!!!!!!" Of course, to the normal hospital visitor, the sight of two curly-haired, panting girls clutching onto each other would have had anyone wondering where to escort them to the insanity ward. "You-pant-wanna-pant-go in-pant-first?" Bel said.

"You're the one who got kicked out for a month."

"You're the one with her grandchild and left us for two years." Well, Mimi really couldn't argue with that.

She cracked the door open. Her mother was laying in the midst of tubes and metal. The faint crackling of some Spanish soap opera. It looked like the woman was sleeping. Mimi just knelt down by the bedside. "Mami?" she whispered.

"Mimi?" was the faint croak of a reply. Coquina opened her eyes, a pair of faded browns that held years of love and hurt.

"Me and Bel are here, Mami. Curtis came over to tell me what was going on."

"It's been too long, mi querida."

Mimi smiled at her mother's pet name. "I have some good news."

"What is it?" Coquina tried to smile faintly at her eldest.

"I met a boy. His name is Roger."

"How long...have you been together? Has it been longer than a week?"

Mimi choked back a laugh. "Try two years, Mami."

"Very good, I hope he treats you well."

"Mami," she said, leaning in closer, "I'm, we're having a baby." Mimi grabbed her mother's hand, and fought back tears of pain for seeing her mother in this state. "You're gonna be a grandma."

Coquina smiled. "I love you, mi Mimi, mi querida."

Mimi gave her mother a hug. "I love you too, Mami."

* * *

"I'm sorry that I _did_ look through your things, Tom," Dave said, opening the door to the office.

"I think you did need to know about Angel. She was...something." Collins straightened up a bunch of folders.

Dave smiled as he thought of the drag queen who pulled him back from the edge. "I knew you loved her a lot."

"Well, I have class."

"Oh! Please tell me that you want to go out for dinner tonight."

"Don't want be beat by the sisters Marquez?"

"Well, what do you think?" Dave started laughing as they walked down the hallway. "But, really, a night out for ourselves," he said continuing down the hall. "Something wrong, Tom?"

"Yeah. This is my classroom." Collins opened the door to it.

"Don't go yet!" Dave hurried back to where his lover stood, and then proceeded to kiss him. "I'll see you later, kay?" he said, once they pulled away.

"All right," Collins whispered, and then turned to the classroom of gape-jawed students. "Excuse my boyfriend," he said to the students, "now about these papers..."

* * *

PS: FYI, Ti Copriro d'Amore means "My Companion of Love" (I think) in Italian. Roughly translated, its "I'll Cover You." I have the Italian cast's version of the reprise, and I started crying listening to it. REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! (Come on! My Princess Diaries fic is getting more reviews per chap! I want 45 at LEAST!) 


	23. 23 Broken

AN: _reader opening the story_ OMG, SHE FINALLY UPDATED!!!! _heart attack, faints away_

Okay, not like any of you are ACTUALLY doing that...but yes, I'm sorry this one took forever. Writer's block yet.

Said writer's block was cured by one thing: MASSIVE OBC RECORDINGS!!!!!!

That said, I'd like to dedicate this chap to the following celebs:

Dame Julie Andrews for hosting the wonderful PBS documentary about the American music, and for highlighting the best of the final episode, Rent and Jonathon Larson.

Idina and Taye for the PURE inspiration of this new plotline, especially to Idina, as her voice in Wicked got me through fever and aches.

Daphne Rubin-Vega for her beautiful music, voice, and songwriting, partially inspiring this chap and also a DDR rountine.

REPLIES:

Allison: The Dave/Collins thing was so random, but it's like my fave part of that whole chap! They're so cute together!

WickedElphaba: I felt Dave just needed to know more. Like, he's heard about Angel via the loftmates, but never from Collins. They just took a big step further in their relationship. Worried about Collins? Worried how?

Jan: Not to mention, I think that was one of the few Mimi & Bel chaps that didn't SOLELY deal with their angsty past...ARGH! Why must I write Marquez angst? I like the fluff better!

Allison (was this a double review?): I LOVE writing twists, I think they bring something new to the story. And "keep writing for as long as you can!" _blushes_ Wow. I haven't even PLANNED that far yet. __

Song, "Broken" is owned by the great Daphne Rubin-Vega, and can be found on her CD "Souviners" (and if I screwed up the lyrics, please say so)

Also, this takes place a week after the last chapter.

_

* * *

You got that Mad Hatter Hare look_

_In your eyes_

_You thought that you could_

_Handle my jagged edges_

Someone was banging on the door.

Unfortunately, said banging was loud enough to get Tara from the fire escape, as even though she had blasted the Patti Smith CD she was listening too, the continuous _bangbangbang_ was dominating.

Of course, when she opened it, the curly haired brownish-blonde zoomed to the couch. "SHE BROKE UP WITH MEEE!!!!!"

"Alex what?!"

_You're playin' with matches_

_But you're if I'd-_

_Then something catches, and _

_then you run away _

_You should've known there's _

_Always a price to pay_

Maureen flopped over. "She said she liked me and all...but she said 'I don't want to get in the way-if you have feelings for someone, I won't stop you'." She sniffled. "I can't believe this!"

"What, that Alex dumped you or that she thought that you're in love with someone else?"

"Both." Tara stared at the crumpled woman laying on her couch. Alex _had_ mentioned something about a secret admirer-they just didn't assume it would lead to this.

"And then-" Maureen continued, "she gives me this yellow rose, that was like dropped in our mail slot- nuthin' attached."

"Probably some guy who lives in your building."

"That's what I thought too..."

_Can't get fixed_

_'Til you're broken_

_Can't get fixed_

_'Til you're down and out_

_And choking on your spit_

_And your tears_

_And the words that hurt you_

_Most of all are spoken_

Idiot. That's what he was.

He couldn't believe that he had gotten Maureen a fucking _rose_. And a yellow one at that. Some ex-girlfriend of his said that it meant love everlasting.

If you knew his past relationship with Maureen, love everlasting wasn't the best way to describe it.

He was drunk when he dropped it off, that's all. The gut reaction wasn't saying he was drunk, but fuck, it was a good enough excuse.

Now only to convince Mo's girlfriend...

_Hey, Mr. White kid gloves_

_So high and mighty_

_Don't tell me your sweet dreams_

_Are dark and dirty_

Why would Alex be so hard to convince? Because she knew he wasn't drunk or high or anything like that. He didn't know, he just knew that she knew.

Fuck.

It had been that night when he realized he had _some_ feelings, but hell, that could have been the booze talking. Maureen didn't love him.

But the day after or so, he couldn't stop thinking about her. That laugh. Her spunkiness. The way her hair kinda curled.

You know, the sort of things a man generally thinks about when he's in love.

_You're slowing it big time_

_On my citadel_

_So you can brag just like _

_You're Hemingway_

_But all the cracks are showing_

_The light of day..._

Maureen perched on top the kitchen table. "She's just been acting so weird since that night after CBGB's. _But I don't understand why_."

Tara blushed. "Maybe...she got mixed signals...or something."

"Who did I make out with?" Tara gulped down her tea quickly. "Don't hide it," Maureen continued, "If it was Marky...I guess I'm sorry."

"No, not Mark."

She arched an eyebrow. "Please don't say your brother."

"It wasn't him either."

"Well, then, that would leave Collins, and I sincerely- holy, shit. I made out with _HIM????????_"

_Can't get fixed_

_'Til you're broken_

_Can't get fixed_

_'Til you're down and out_

_And choking on your spit_

_And your tears_

_And the words that hurt you_

_Most of all been spoken_

_Til you're broken_

_Like I'm broken_

"Mo, he's not that bad a person."

"Oh, you're telling me..."

Tara pursed her lips. "So, he fucked up once. And you guys keep fighting about that? I mean, come on. Think about Angel. What would he have done?"

Maureen stretched back and thought for a minute. "Honestly, I have never heard you swear."

They sat there for a few more seconds before bursting out laughing.

_You're flying high as an eagle cloud_

_With a diamond stuck to_

_your paper crown_

_What a drag it is _

_To come crashing down..._

_Admit it, you're in love with the Drama Queen herself_.

Why did it seem so impossible? He'd been in love before- but why did this feel right and wrong? What was it about Maureen Johnson that made him like this?

Benny sighed, as he looked again at that picture. Where Maureen was draping herself over Mark.

"Moo with me, Mo. We'll jump over the moon."

_Can't get fixed_

_'Til you're broken_

_Can't get fixed_

_'Til you're down and out_

_And choking on your spit_

_And your tears_

_And the words that hurt you_

_Most of all been spoken_

_Til you're broken_

_Like I'm broken_

_Broken..._

* * *

PS: YAY!!!! A NEW COUPLE!!!!! BENNY/MAUREEN!!!!! 

I wasn't kidding when I mentioned that my Benny was based on Taye. Then again, the Benny and Maureen I saw sucked. So, I went for the originals! -

Sorry for the sucky ending line.

PREVIEW: OMG THE WEDDING IS TWO WEEKS AWAY! Mark's feet are getting colder-is Tara really the one, or is he not ready for this commitment? Roger's going to meet Mimi's mother-will he impress her? And the whole Benny/Mo thing- WTF is going on with _that_? Does Maureen love Benny back? Plus, possible Dave/Collins fluff!

REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	24. And now for something completely differe...

AN: OMG, guys I am SO sorry for not updating in a while. School. I know. I have finals this week.

Plus...this might be the last update for a while. ::ducks:: Sorry, but this is saved on my dorm computer, and my home one sucks. I might update on Wed. or Thurs, I'm just not promising.

However, I give you a humorous update of what happened to the characters during the two month break...I just have one thing to say. Black is this year's pink.

I own nothing but the Wendkos.

Response:

Allison- Thank you for alerting me to the length between my last update. As for Benny/Maureen...well...look at them. We'll see...

WickedElphaba- Love the Daphne. More Benny/Mo love- AWESOMENESS.

_

* * *

Tara rolled over on her side to stare at the alarm clock..._

_A college dorm room in the real world-_

Laura stared at her computer screen. Gah. Why wasn't anything coming? It was almost the wedding, and she had massive plans to get the Benny/Mo thing on...

"What do you think, Joey?" The inanimate face didn't do anything- as if it would, since the Joey in question had been dead for three years. Then her eyes fell on the stack of history readings. "Shiiiiit." She sighed and saved the document. "I'll come back at you guys."

_

* * *

The loft, 1996, Jonathon-verse-_

Tara paused in bed. _What was I thinking? _This was interesting. She didn't know what to do right then. Mark was curled up beneath her, still sleeping.

"I think..." She shook her fiancé. "Wha..." Mark whined.

"Let's fuck."

He cracked an eye open. "What?"

"Let's have morning sex."

"Is this a preview of after the wedding?"

"To tell you the truth...I have no idea."

* * *

Maureen had woken up to something completely different. Like another woman in her room.

A short, blonde woman, wearing a BRIGHT pink ensemble.

Mo shook her hair. "Hi. I'm currently suffering a hangover. Tell me. Did I pick you up last night?"

The blonde woman looked shocked. "No, never! I'm your roommate, remember?"

"Riiiight." _So, when exactly did you escape from Bellevue?_

The blonde looked around the room. "This place is horrenidous." Maureen's eyes bugged out. "Okay, who are you?"

"Galinda Uplands. And you are...?"

"Maureen..."

"Well, Maureen," Galinda said, sitting on the bed, "I'm going to make you my new project."

* * *

Tara was drinking a nice cup of coffee. Mmm...she never knew that Mark was that good.

Mimi came running in. "Have you seen Roger yet?"

"No. Why? Did he go somewhere?"

Mimi slumped over the counter, with a stupid happy grin on her face. "He looks so hot."

"Meems, not to infringe on your man or anything, but Roger been hot."

"Mm. You won't understand."

* * *

Meanwhile, Joanne called off work, since she woke up that morning looking literally like a baboon.

* * *

Some amount of time later, Tara was waiting at the Life for her brother. The whole last week had been interesting. Like the weird plant she found in the kitchen that ending up biting her hand. Mark had grabbed weedkiller and doused the thing with it.

Dave sat across from her. "You called?"

"Yeah. Anything weird happening lately?"

"Define weird."

She raised her eyebrows. "What happened to you and Collins?"

"Oh, nothing. Except the day he started talking with an English accent. Oh, and the time I found a police badge."

"Collins was talking with an English accent?"

David nodded. "What happened to your hand?"

Tara looked at it. "Bloodthirsty plant that I found in the kitchen a few days ago. We killed it. Not before sampling me though."

"Jesus. This is worse than whenever I tried killing myself."

_

* * *

Bangbangbang. Christ. Who the hell was knocking like that? Mimi got herself from the couch and opened the door...to a very strange looking Maureen. "Mo...um...what happened?"_

"That's what I'd like to fucking know!"

"Well...um...you know..."

"Goddamnit, Mimi! I'm fucking GREEN."

It was true. Maureen Johnson was a bright green, wearing a pointed witch's hat and a black dress.

"Okay," Mimi said, "How long ago did this happened?"

"Yesterday." Maureen sat down on the couch and folded her arms. "First, a strange woman appears saying she's my roomie, and now this."

"That's all?" Maureen looked away. "What else?" She mumbled something under her breath. "What?"

"Benny was in my bed last week."

"WHAT?"

"Yeah, I know. This was way before the green thing, obviously. And, thank GOD he was as disgusted as I was."

"Why in hell would you sleep with him?!"

Maureen smirked. "Why are you wearing cat ears?"

Mimi blushed, and ripped the headband off. "Nothing...didn't even notice that they were on."

"Uh huh."

* * *

"Hey, Tara, hon?" Mark called from the bedroom.

"Yeah?"

"Come here." She walked in. "Yeah, what is it?" And then she saw what he wanted her to. "Mark. You work out?"

"No. But these magically appeared."

Tara grinned. "I liiiike them..."

"I don't!"

"Oh come on! You look hot!"

* * *

Meanwhile, a redhead girl was typing furiously on her laptop in the Life. "Fuck...stupid real world influences screwing everything up..."

"So this means that those four guys will leave me alone now?"

The girl snapped her head up at Angel. "YES. And then you can go back to being dead."

"Good. The blond guy gets annoying. And I don't do anything."

"Right right."

_

* * *

Back in the real world-_

Laura slammed her Bio text shut. "Braiiin dead." Damn. No one was online either.

Oh wait. Seasons of Love.

_I should update..._ She plugged in her earphones and opened the file. Turning up the playlist, she smiled and started brainstorming, singing along to her playlist, "...you just wanna lay down and cry, not just another birthday, it's thirty-ninety, why..."

PS: I HAD to make the Wicked reference. HAD to, since Idina's leaving...I am devious, muaha.

Ok. Final studying calls. Damn,

Read. Review. You know the drill.


	25. A Very Important Author's Note

Alison: Oh, NOW you update. 

Me: Shut up, Al.

Alison: Four bloody months. And this is what you offer-

Me: SHUT UP!God. I'm trying to think.

Okay. Hi guys. 'Member me? Big long Rent fic with absolutely no updates? Yeah, well, this is going to be the last sing of life for it for a while.

Alison: She's saying she's not updating until she gets off for summer.

Me:_whacks_ _Alison_: I told you to shut up, didn't I?

And that's NOT what I mean...but there's a very good chance that it might happen. It's school (again...this time at the fault of some professors). Plus I wanna go back an flesh i out a bit.

So, "Seasons of Love" will currently be on hiatus until further posting. Do not be discouraged, or disappointed (Alison: DISAPPOINTED IS A GOOD THING!) Ignore her.

And now to the mess of replies:

Allison: Alex dumped Maureen in the "Broken" songfic chapter because she KNEW about Benny. Heehee. plots also, you sound familiar- have I threatened you before?

Siasi: Wow. I'm flattered. I don't know about Tara's poetry...hmm...might have to break out my stack.

Also, Theo from School of Rock was played by the absolutely gorgeous Adam Pascal (Original-and now film! YAY!- Roger) I was writing this when I first saw it, and couldn't resist. (The song in the CBGB's chapter was also from School of Rock. It's the one No Vacancy sings at the Battle of the Bands)

Panda: My mind is twisted. You have acknowledged that and have enjoyed it. Thank you.

Alison: So NOW what?

Me: Let's see, how about I go back to MY BLOODY PAPER!

Alison: Hey. I no help with homework.

Me: YOU HELPED WITH THE HAMLET ONE, FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!

_:we attempt to kill each other:_


	26. 24

AN: Eh, heheheh...

Alison: OH, GET ON WITH IT!

Okay, okay! Look, I'm sorry there hasn't been an update since...last Christmas..(:whack:OW! I know, I know!) and, well, since I got back, I've been working on it, and then...

My Internet went down.

BUT! Thanks to public Internet at the library AND the portable memory disk I got for Christmas, I finally present you :horns blowing: CHAPTER 25! And it has puppies! YAY PUPPIES!

* * *

"Ow. Pin's sticking me in the boob." Maureen winced at the dressing assistant. The assistant sighed. "Ms. Johnson, we need to double check these dress sizes. I can't imagine how-"

"Mo?" Mimi asked, undergoing her own fitting (which, to the truth wasn't going as well, due to her ever-increasing tummy). "Did you pad today?"

Maureen grinned, and produced two breast enhancements. "What? I needed to see if they work with the dress."

"MAUREEN." Mimi and Tara yelled. "Two weeks, Mo, can't you just take this seriously?" Tara flopped in one of the chairs in the dressing room. "I don't need this."

"There's still time to get out of this, y'know? Hey. Watch your hands," Maureen swatted the assistant away from her chest. "I'm not trying to break up you and Marky, but lemme tell you- he's not Mr. Lasting- Commitment."

"So says the girl who dumped him," Mimi muttered under her breath. "I heard that!" Maureen retorted.

"It's just...stress...I can't believe this. I am getting MARRIED." Tara buried her head in hands. "Six weeks ago, I dump the guy, he comes crawling back-"

"And you fall for it," Mimi finished. "We know, we've been there."

_

* * *

Bump. Mark's head made contact with his computer screen. Was this all that he had to look forward to for the rest of his life? Filling out TPS reports and making the quarter's stock quota. "God, what am I doing?" He thought that before almost selling his soul last year._

Well, at least this time he had a bit of a saving grace. Collins managed to weasel him an application to the Angelika's ("Old student of mine works there," he explained) independent film festival- for up-and-coming directors. And the perfect entry for it- of course, what else?- "Today 4 U."

Said film was waiting in his bag to be dropped off at the theater, along with script and his application. Only a matter of-

"Marky!"

_Daisy. _Goddamnit. The blonde (who still seemed _very_ infatuated with Mark) was draping herself over the cubicle wall. "Can I ask a favor?"

Mark took off his glasses and sighed. "What now?"

"Well, see, I've got this friend, and she needs help with something."

"Which is...?" Oh God. Please, don't let be what he was thinking it was.

* * *

Bel had managed to get her fitting done early, saying that she needed to hit the hospital. Which was true. Unlike Mimi, Bel did keep her word- if she said she was going somewhere, she went there and do what she needed to.

Mami peppered her with the usual amount of questions- how far along Mimi was (three months, but it's showing), what Roger was like (a few beans short of salad, in Bel's honest opinion) and if Bel was going to school ("I'm taking a semester off," was all she said).

Now for objective two: find the Man so she could find Paul.

Thankfully, the brown stained purveyor of narcotics was down in his usual spot in St. Mark's Place. "Sweetheart!" he cried, throwing his arms up in order for a bear hug, but Bel just turned him down. "Ain't seen you in a few days. How's Cutie Pie doin' with that baby and all?"

"I never told you she was pregnant-"

"Hell, don't take a blind man not ta notice. Unless she been gaining pounds- no offense, Sweetheart?"

"Sure. Say, have you seen Paul- you know, erm, Tough Guy?"

Black toothed smile. "Tough Guy? He's been at that fancy yuppie bar. But he come down, I's gotta bone to pick with him."

* * *

"Mojito time, ladies!" Maureen sashayed out of the wedding dress place.

"Mo. I CAN'T DRINK." Mimi rolled her eyes at Tara. "'Sides, I gotta go see Mami down at the hospital."

"You're no fun." Mo turned to the bride-to-be. "Whaddya say, Mrs. Cohen?"

"Lemme call Dave first and check on his side of things."

"Goodie! There's a bar right there. Let's go use their phone." Maureen grabbed the other two's hands and headed off.

Walking in, Mimi realized that this bar wasn't the best idea. "Mo! We can't be here!"

"Um, one, it's not a gay bar. Two, it's not a biker bar- though I'd LOVE to go into one those some-"

"Three," Mimi said, "We'll be behind rent for a month! God, I know this place, too." Noticing Tara's raised eyebrow, she explained simply, "Benny haunt back in the day."

"Well, _whatever. _You two are no fun."

Tara sighed and went up to the bartender, leaving her maid of honor and bridesmaid to bicker about payment. "Look, I know he doesn't have a tab-"

"Meems, look over there." Maureen jerked her thumb over her shoulder.

"At the neon sculpture?"

"Uh, no."Maureen clarified her pointing by jabbing her finger at a group of frat boys (well, they looked like frat boys) in the corner. "Guy on the left end. That's Bel's boyfriend, right?"

"Oh Christ. It is." Paul was, indeed, sitting off in the corner with a group of his friends.

"Hit him up! It won't be that bad."

* * *

Bel had decided to forgo meeting up with Paul and just went back the loft. Hey, at least she knew where to get him if she needed him.

But right now, she wanted marshmallows covered with peanut butter.

Her head stuck in the cabinet, hunting, someone started knocking at the door. "It's open!"

"Hey, Bel." She popped her head out, semi-victorious. "Mark, aren't you supposed to be at work?"

"Half day. I needed to come home and call Rabbi Schulman anyway. Wedding stuff"

"Uh huh." Bel focused her attention from Mark to the wiggling bag Mark was carrying. "So, what's possible dinner tonight?"

"Only if you like that kind of Chinese food." He reached into it. "Meet my commitment standard."

Pulled out of the bag was an ten week old brown fuzzy puppy, who was immediately plopped down onto the kitchen table. "Bel, this is Sandy."

"Sandy."

Mark shrugged. "Her owner came up with it. I'm too lazy to change it."

"And why are you giving Tara a dog?"

Daisy's favor had turned out to be requesting adopters for a friend's purebred border collie who had, well, got around. "It's a litter of mutts, and no one's going to take them," Daisy had explained. So Mark felt some pity. Come on, being so bourgeois about _puppies? _He was taking one out of pure spite. "I felt sorry for it."

"O-kay. Please say that thing is trained."

"Apparently she is." Mark went over to the fridge and grabbed a beer. "How'd the fitting go?"

Bel rolled her eyes. "Besides my niece or nephew and Maureen, the people there hate us."

"Mo, I can understand. Meems...erm..."

"Say it. She's fat."

"She's pregnant. She's supposed to put on weight."

"Whatever. But the dresses are ready, so we've got that outta the way."

"Okay." Mark scooped up Sandy and put her back into the bag. "I've got shit to do, Bel. Me and Tara'll be up later."

"All right." Bel opened up her marshmallow bag and grabbed the peanut butter. "What the- COHEN! SHE ATE MY SNACK!"

* * *

AN: The fact that Sandy is a. part border collie, b. named after a Springsteen song, and c. loves peanut butter has nothing to do with the fact that my puppy, coincidentally, shares all three characteristics. Except my baby's name is Rosie.

REVIEW! PLEASE!


	27. 25

Allison: 'Dear Mr. Columbus...'

Me: Um. What are you doing?

Al: Writing a letter of appreciation since you FINALLY got the big chapter up.

Me: Who said anything about this being huge? It's just..you know...

Al: _throwing objects_ YOU'VE TEASED THEM FOR MONTHS!

Me: SHUDDUP.

Al: You know, you spend hours writing up two words, and then BLAM. You watch the trailer and it's like creative city. WHY? Why do you do that?

Me:Well, Anthony is adorable in that trailer. He unlocks my creative juices.

Al: Oh LORD.

* * *

October 14:

"Last night of freedom, m'man," Benny tilted the last bit of vodka into his shot glass. Mark, on the other hand, had barely touched his beer. (Benny and Collins, however, had moved onto harder forms of liquor, whereas Roger was packing beer after beer, and Dave was still sober).

"Well, according to the normal world," Mark said, "yeah. However, I could go your way and cheat on my wife-to-be." Benny glared at him. The whole Mimi thing was a HUGE sore spot for anyone to bring up. But, then again, at this point in time Benny had been the only of them take "the plunge" (civil ceremonies not included, but that's a whole other story).

"Dude," a completely sloshed Roger started, "I have never, ever forgiven you for that shit you pulled, did I tell you that? Nev-ah." Drink. "But I gotta ask- she ever lousy in the sack?"

"She ever do bondage with you?"

"FUCK NO! That bitch!"

Dave tapped Mark's shoulder. "Um, is this a closed policy? I mean, what happens in the loft-"

"Stays in the loft," Mark muttered. "_Especially_ what they just said."

"Wha?" Roger looked over at them.

* * *

"'To my future sister-in-law,'" Tara read, "'Living with Mark has taught me one things: He's filming, dammit! Make the blockbuster interesting.'" She started to open up the box a grinning Cindy just handed her. "Ooh. Victoria's Secret." Out came a skimpy dark purple negligee. "Erm. Thanks."

Cindy laughed and winked at Maureen. "Not that I'm _implying_ that you two are gonna be producing pornos, but..." The mere fact was too big for any of the females in the room to ignore.

"Well, I tried to convince him once," Maureen said, "but I was shot down."

"Okay! Okay!" Tara made a time out signal. "No more talk of my possible porno career."

"Aww!" Maureen pouted. "But Meems and I got you the perfect thing!" Which to Mimi responded "Whazzit?"

"What perfect thing?"

"Oh, strawberry edible undies."

"What? No. Mo! You're kidding me, right?"

* * *

The next morning:

"Is there some sane reason WHY I'm being held hostage here?" Mark frowned. "Dave, careful with that!"

Mark wasn't the only hostage in the loft. Roger and Collins had declared that Mark could not touch his precious camera. Which, you know, got him completely under their control. Or something like that.

"Look," Dave said, pressing a few buttons (while a groaning Mark watched painfully), "_my_ sister wants to remember her wedding day, and she's not going have you do it."

"Why not!"

"Anal-retentiveness?"

* * *

"IT DOESN'T FIT!"

Maureen and Bel cringed at the crying emitting from Tara's bedroom. "How long has she been like that?" Maureen asked.

"Ever since she discovered her blue pants didn't fit."

Mo's eyebrow went up. "You mean the cute vinyl ones? Can I borrow them?"

"Hey, guys," Tara's head popped out. "Erm, can one of you console Meems here? I need to get ready."

Bel sighed. "I've got her."

Maureen grinned evilly.

"Michaela." Thankfully, Mimi hadn't done her make-up yet, so any thought of her with mascara running down her cheeks. "You are NOT fat."

"But, my belly..."

Bel held up the top part of the dress. "Which is WHY Tara made our dresses two pieces."

"It'll be sticking out."

"It'll. Be. Cute."

* * *

Mark began pacing. "Dude. Don't do that shit," Roger kept groaning from over on the couch.

"I'm nervous, Rog. And Dave's got my camera."

"As best man, I refuse you to do that sorta shit. Fuck, _Benny_ paced, man.""Why'd you guys take my camera?"

"Because," Collins said, struggling to open a bottle of wine, "You would've just _filmed_ everything- no offense, man-" he said, quickly trying to avoid the potential killing (if Mark was able to physically KILL someone), "But do you honestly expect us to believe that you would be as grounded as you are now?"

"I'm grounded _with _that thing!"

Roger shoved a glass of wine. "You. Drink. Now."

Mark stared at it. "Fine."

"To Marky giving away the very last freedom he allows himself."

"Shuddup."

* * *

"Mrs. Cohen, your living relative is here!" Maureen announced.

"Which one?" Tara said, adjusting her dress top.

"Me!" Dave poked the camera lens into the doorframe.

"Oh good," Tara swirled around, "I almost thought you were _Mark_ for a second there."

"Would you like to know how bad a fight he put up with me!"

"Marky can fight?" Maureen added in.

"Okay! Maureen-out!" Dave pushed the girl out the church door. "Must pass on fraternal words of wisdom. _Alone_."

* * *

"MARKY!" The familiar, maternal voice rang through the apartment.

"Oh God," Mark buried his head in his hands. "_She's _here."

Collins automatically ran out to deal with Mrs. Cohen. Roger just stared at him. "Dude. Get over yourself. You're getting _married_. In like two hours."

"Gah. Is that how long we've got to get there?"

"The church person said for us to get there an hour before, but the girls have been there all day- some Catholic thing Meems wanted to do."

"Um, it's a bi-religion ceremony. I think." Mark squinted. "Just...God. Why is she here?"

"Mark! Rog!" Collins called from the front room. "Come on, Mrs. Cohen's gonna bite our heads off if we don't go like now."

"She knows we're planning to take the transit, right?

* * *

(and now, the part you've all been promised and been waiting for months upon months...)

"Nice beanie, dude," Roger whispered out of the side of his mouth (a little tradition going back to the days of Bar Mitzvahs and First Communions in Scarsdale's religious communities).

"Yeah. Uh-huh."

"Why are you freaking? You've been freaking all day!"

"You would be too!"

"Riiiight. For the record-City Hall all the way, man."

"You don't have parental connections still holding you down."

* * *

Dave slipped his arm in the crook of Tara's. "Nervous?"

"Understatement."

"I would have guessed." Maureen was the first one out, sashsaying down the aisle. She had tugged down her own bridesmaid top, showing "my fabulous tits for all those singles out there!" Bel followed her, trying to keep her head up (_No more drinking_ was about the only thought going through that girl's head.)

"Yeah, well, you know what they say," Tara laughed.

"Lemme guess, Aunt Vanessa was grilling you about the women's most important days?"

"I quote: 'Two down, one to go!'"

"Oh GOD." Dave rolled his eyes as Mimi winked at the two of them, and headed down the aisle. The two-piece maid of honor dress was adorable on her, sexy but kinda cute with the bit of stomach hanging out.

* * *

"Would you do this?"

"Maybe. After the kid."

"Hey." Collins edged in the convo. "Is he still freaking out?"

"Nah," Roger said, "He's just wondering if we would take the plunge, too."

"It's not-" Mark started, but Roger edged him in the elbows.

* * *

"_Dearly beloved..."_

Most of the time, four month romances end up in Vegas and the divorce courts. Other times, these crazy people just know that person is the one. In the case of the group standing there today, they knew that you had to make most of the time they had left.

"_Hannah Cohen, do you accept this woman as your daughter-in-law?"_

As Mimi once put it, "Let the nevers and maybes die," and today, these words would have been hanging heavily in the air. Mark had a huge share of nevers, Tara had a quite a bit of maybes thrown together.

"_The rings, Mr. Davis."_

Two years ago, this wouldn't have been the result. Of course, two years ago, Mark and Maureen had been dating, and Maureen would have automatically called for "VEGAS, BABY!"

But in the alternate universe where he would have had been dating Tara pre-Angel, a wedding four months into the relationship? Never would have entered Mark's mind.

"_To have and to hold..."_

Angel would have probably been jabbing Collins (Mimi, more likely, though) with excitement. Tara's mom would have probably been smiling over at Hannah, telepathically sending baby lists.

Either way, the two people for this whole thing was for, they would probably still be shitting themselves. (Especially, since Dave had entrusted Joanne with Mark's camera- he was not to have it back until AFTER the reception down at the Life.)

"_You may now-"_

Tara hit Mark's lips at full speed. "Wow," he said, "Excited, aren't we?"

"Thrill of the moment."

Mark stomped on the wineglass in what one might peg as his typical manner. "Ready to make everyone's day?"

"You bet."

"_May I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Mark Andrew Cohen!"_

* * *

PS: WHEE! They are finally married! However, don't just wait yet for the Jersey honeymoon. There's still a reception...READ AND REVIEW! 


	28. 26

AN:watching the Rent trailer on OnDemand. Again.:

Alison: What is this, the twentieth time?

Me: Shush. Anthony's on...

Alison: Oh please. You know, I could just have you watch this again, and again- Hey, what have you come out with now?

Me: Fine. I'll stop it to update.

Alison::muttering: Four more months, four more months...

Me: Well, yet another update, probably the last one before I head backoff to the great halls of Ship. Whee!

Pertaining to aliceinwonder's question: Mimi has a slight chance of having an AIDS baby. It'll only pass on if a.) the baby has a tear in the skin during childbirth, b.) Mimi breastfeeds it, or c.) there's this biological thing with rh cells that's really too confusing for me to explain. And even if any of the above DID happen, the baby would one have HIV. Lots of HIV+ people don't automatically developAIDS, and can even live long and full lives.

Alison: What's she saying is that she hasn't thought it out that faryet.

Me: Shut up.

Alison: Meanwhile, your biologial professor couldn't figure how come you knew EVERYTHING and HIV/AIDS?

Me: Again, shut up. Marky's back on.

Alison: Oh GOD.

* * *

"You, Marky, are dis shish kabob, and I am dis steak..." A completely drunk Maureen twirled herself into a booth.

"Shish kabob?" The brand new Mrs. Cohen whispered.

"Old news." Mark rolled his eyes.

The reception was in full swing at the only place that would make sense for them to have it- the Life. (In fact, the manager relieved Mark's outstanding tab as a wedding present. Every other one of the loftmates who had similar tabs, however, were, in a word, screwed.)

Joanne was still holding onto Mark's camera ("No way are _you_ getting this tonight," she taunted earlier), Dave and Collins were dancing, Roger was jamming out oldies with that back-up band (currently still playing "Fat Bottomed Girls" after numerous glares from Mimi), Benny was keeping his eye on Maureen, and, compared to that Christmas Eve, this affair was a walk in the park.

Of course, Mrs. Cohen and other various parental figures were not in attendance back then. But then again, ANY private party should have been a walk in a park after that night.

But enough dwelling on the past.

"What time are you guys going to Jersey?" Mimi asked, twirling her virgin daiquiri.

"Jersey?" Hannah swivelled her head around. "Mark, what is she talking about?"

"Mo-om...I can't do a fancy honeymoon. Atlantic City's the most I'll pay for one."

Hannah sighed. "Honestly, if I hadn't let it slip to that-" she started muttering something about Mark's dad's new wife (could Mark even CALL her his step-mother? Especially given the fact that that marriage took place when Mark was nineteen)- "about this party, _he _actually got into his bank account."

"Dad gave us a wedding gift!" Tara and Mark glanced at each. "What is it?" Tara asked. Hannah surrendered a padded beige envelope to them, which Tara opened up with a nearby steak knife. "MAUI!"

"Maui! Jesus, Cohen," Benny whistled. "Even Alison and I didn't hit that big."

"Yeah, what'd you have, all-expense paid trip tp the Hamptons?"

"Not funny, dude."

"He's right," Tara murmured. "Are you sure Mark's dad paid for all this, Hannah?"

She waved her hand. "Oh, just call me Mom now. And yes. The good for nothing decided to do something for his only son."

"Wow..."

Mark rolled his eyes. "Didn't Cindy and Jack get something like this too...?"

* * *

Bel climbed up the steps of CyberArts, grabbing her skirt so it wouldn't catch on something and get ruined. She was meeting Paul later on, but the whole wedding garb (albeit living in New York) was hardly club material. (She had, on the other hand, consulted Maureen who said that the top was fine, just a pair of low-rise jeans might work.) 

"Sandy!" The little pup came running up to her adopted owner, yipping. "Shh. It's like midnight." Bel wiggled out of her bottom, and slung it over her arm. Sandy placed her front paws on Bel's skirt, then ran off and skidded to the bathroom, where she promptly started sniffing around the toliet. "OUT," Bel said, snapping her fingers. Unfortunately, the puppy had decided NOT to listen to her.

Sighing, Bel changed her clothes and locked the bathroom door. "_Bed_. Now."

* * *

"Mo..._Mo..._MAUREEN!" The person in question opened her eyes slowly. "God, you friggin' asshole, do you need to scream?" 

Benny and Collins heaved her drunken self onto their shoulders. "Okay. Three blocks to the transit," Collins wheezed.

"And another four to her apartment once we get off," Benny finished.

"Dude, I am not asking how you know that."

"Guess I shouldn't mention her wet bar, huh?"

* * *

Mimi stretched out on the bed, rubbing her tummy. Man, if Roger EVER got his act together... 

Nah. Not thinking about that. Baby first. Marriage later.

Maybe much later.

_God, Meems_, she thought, _What would Angel say right now? _He would have said...he would say...not to worry. Bring that beautiful baby into this world and get the hell in the bathroom- Wait.

Mimi shot up as Roger burst through the door. "WHAT THE FUCK!" he spit out.

"What? What's wrong?"

He grabbed her arms and pinned her down to the bed. "Where are they? How're you hiding them?"

"Roger, what the fuck are you talking about? What is it I'm supposed to be hiding here?"

He threw her arms back at her. "How could you? HOW FUCKING COULD YOU?"

"WOULD YOU MIND TELLING ME WHATEVER THE FUCK IT IS YOU'RE SO WORKED UP ABOUT HERE!"

Roger stormed out and headed toward the bathroom, and emerged five seconds later with a handful of baggies.

Baggies, which, obviously, both of them recognized on the spot.

"Oh my fucking God," Mimi whispered. "How- Roger, I-"

"Oh, what? You weren't doing this behind my back! Huh? I can't believe you, Mimi!"

Okay, enough was enough. "How come those aren't _yours_, huh, Rog?" Silence. "Strike a nerve?"

He pulled her close to his face. "_You fucking know I wouldn't get back to this shit again_."

"Yeah, I'm like killing our child here." She ripped herself away from. "You are so thick, Roger," she said, prompting slamming the door behind her.

* * *

Mark gripped the armrests. Tara just looked down from her crossword puzzle. "Scared of flying here?" 

"Never flew."

Tara just shrugged. "Neither have I."

Mark turned his head at her. "How the hell did I go through with that last night?"

She smiled and kissed him. "Because, hon, you knew that I would sit through shit like this, and not to mention the inevitable. _That's_ why you married me."

"Thanks for calming me down."

_Ladies and gentlemen, Flight 283 New York to Maui is prepared for take-off..._

* * *

"_Bel_." Paul looked over his shoulder. "I thought you knew I had my things there. I mean, you couldn't bring it with you?" 

"Um, sister's friend's wedding, I was a little preoccupied. Besides, I can't remember you ever telling me to get your stuff."

"It's not that!"

"What's going on here, Paul?" Bel narrowed her eyes and seemed to automatically channeling the elder Marquez. He twitched nervously. "I just owe some...guy...some cash..."

"That's it? Cash?" She rolled her eyes. "Oh God, Paul, just hit up one of your buds, for Christ's sakes."

* * *

Roger kicked the fire escape ladder. God, _Mimi. _How could she fucking do that to him? Forget him, how could she fucking even think about doing that with April on the way? Everything they've been through, and yet she's still at it? God, that little bitch- 

"Well, it's Lover Boy! You live up to your name, eh?"

Roger glared down at the street. "What, you looking for your biggest client? She went two floors down."

"Who, Cutie Pie? Nah, I's got morals. I wouldn't sell to her now wit that kid and all." The Man raised his eyebrow. "It's yours, ain't it?"

"Pfft. Yeah." Roger sat down on the escape. "What do you want anyway?"

"Almost forgot there, Lover Boy. I've got some primo shit in there, but I ain't got it yet."

"So...wait, you mean-"

"It ain't mine yet. I got this Tough Guy as a go between, he's owing me some cold green here. Whaddya you know?"

* * *

PS:

Alison: Wow, you go from drunk, funny Roger to pissed off Roger in one chapter!

Me: Yeah, well, with the movie and all, I think it's best for him to go back to his normal habits.

Alison: What about him and Meems?

Me: I don't know. Now shush. Jesse's singing.


	29. 27 Love Stand Up

AN: YAY! Thank you for all the reviews! (And I miss you too, Li-nee :-( Only ten more days!)

Alison: Warning: This is yet another songfic chap!

Me: Oh, shut up. Tis a good song.

Alison: Uh-huh. I thought you were done until school starts up again.

Me: Well, I finished a chapter, okay? God.

Songs lyrics property of Patti Sciafla

_

* * *

Forty bucks, huh? _Bel smiled as she scooped up her little puppy. That would be easy enough to bum off Meems. Well, okay, Mimi wasn't too fond of Paul anyway, but Bel could always say it was for a friend (which technically, it _was_). "I'm home!" No answer. Unless her sister and Roger were...you know...(of course, wasn't that impossible at one point?)

"Bel. Get over here." Roger growled from the bedroom.

"God Rog, what's your problem?" She came in and flinched as he tossed a bag at him. "What the hell?"

"What's the deal here?"

Roger's eyes narrowed. "You tell me. I found one of these on the floor."

"You thinking I'm _using_? God, I knew you were thick, but to think that I'm _using? _How stupid do you think I am here?"

"Maybe not as stupid as your sister!"

"MY SISTER-" Bel's breath rose heavily. "I love my sister, Roger, but I am not as _stupid_ as she was to even _think_ of shooting up! Which apparently, I hear, you did too!"

"IT AIN'T MINE!" Roger kicked the bed frame. "God. Do you know why I quit? HUH?"

"No, I do not. But you know what, Rog? You have no fucking right to accuse either me or Mimi! God!" She grabbed her bag and stormed out the door, with Sandy yapping at her heels.

* * *

"Why is it I always end up with you following a hangover?" Maureen groaned, playing with a cup of orange juice.

"Fate, maybe?" Benny shrugged.

"Fate doesn't happen." Mo shook her head. "You could just leave me alone. I'm fine by myself, you know."

"Riiight." Benny rested his head in his hand. "Like you could be trusted alone."

"What exactly is _that_ supposed to mean, buddy!"

* * *

"Meems, _nina_, how can you STAND HIM?" Bel flopped down on Tara's couch. "He accused me of using smack!"

"Well, he had his suspicions..."

"I'M NOT LIKE YOU, MIMI!" Bel got up from her seat. "You would think that I would've _learned_ something when you left me and Mami with Curtis-"

"Do you _think_ I wanted to leave you with him? I was gonna come back! You were only nine, goddamnit!"

"YOU LEFT ME THERE! I GOT ALL THAT SHIT YOU WERE CARRYING! IT'S A WONDER I DIDN'T TRY TO RUN OFF SOONER!"

"DON'T FUCKIN' BLAME ME FOR ALL THIS! YEAH, I DID SMACK!" Mimi started crying, hard. "I'm sorry that Rog jumped to conclusions- but he had his fuckin' reasons, all right?"

* * *

"Do you wanna head out there?" Collins said, looking nervously towards the bedroom door, while taking off his clothes.

Dave shook his head. "Not without a death wish. My God, is Roger really-"

"He's short-tempered." Collins reached for Dave's hand. "There's only so much you get from hearing something."

"But still...Meems hasn't used lately, hasn't she?"

"Since Christmas? Not that I know of, which leans more towards no. I don't know about Bel, either." He threw his white shirt on the floor. "Look, it's their problem, got that?"

"Oh God, Tom..." Dave climbed over the bed and kissed Collins.

* * *

"Benny, come on, 'fess up." Maureen stared at him with her hard hazel eyes. "Why did you come? Joanne was there, she could've-"

"I thought you two couldn't take each other anymore."

"That is...well, we-"

"That's what I thought." Benny leaned over the kitchen table. "Look, I was concerned about you getting back here, all right? Can't I be concerned about you?"

"I have very little reasons for you to be."

"How about the fact that we're still friends?"

"Oh, when did _that_ happen?"

"Jesus, I thought I had been forgiven _weeks_ ago."

_

* * *

Love...you're the one_

_The well known pleasure_

_Under my tongue_

_My holy water...My gypsy rain_

_Come and find me...once again_

_Because you are_

_Everything I wanted_

_I need your faith..._

_I need your love_

_To take my place..._

_To rise above_

_to stand up_

Bel stormed out of the apartment. _I can't believe this_. Roger hated her, her sister (at the moment) wanted nothing to do with her, and everything was going to hell and back.

"Sweetheart!" The Man started waving his arms at her.

"Oh, what do you want?" she snapped.

"Do somethin' 'bout your boyfriend, that's what. Where does he come off threatening me?"

Bel looked up four or five floors (mistakenly, thinking that the Man was referring to Roger). "Well, I think he's got his reasons."

"I ain't talkin' about Lover Boy here! I mean Tough Guy!"

As if on cue, Paul stepped out. "Hey! She's not your customer, all right?"

"Where's that stash?" Paul looked over at Bel, as if she knew what was going on here.

"Stash? What fuckin' stash, Paul?"

_Love, be my cure_

_be my medicine..._

_Simple and pure_

_Take my sorrow..._

_Take my pain_

_and come and find me...once again _

_because you are_

_everything I wanted_

_So give me your faith_

_Give me your love_

_And I'll take my place_

_and I'll rise above_

_And I'll stand up_

Dave turned over on his side and dug his head underneath the sheets. "Oh God...Tom..."

Collins seemed to be ignoring him, until an attack of hacking coughs interrupted the uncomfortable silence. Dave just put his hand on his love's bare back and rubbed it. "You'll be fine...don't be sick, Tom..." Collins rolled over and kissed Dave again. "I'm fine," he whispered.

_Give me hope and give me strength_

_and give me your soul understanding_

_Give me faith and give me truth_

_and give me your soul understanding_

_Give me strength_

_and give me truth..._

_And give me love_

"But I can't even stand you!" Maureen said.

"And that makes us...what?" Benny crossed his arms and smirked.

Maureen sat there gaping for a moment (a rarity, if ever referring to her), before thinking up, "Well, definitely not friends!"

He moved in closer to her. "Admit it, Mo, if you _really_ hated me as much as you said you did, would I still be in here?"

"I'm a gracious hostess." Maureen's voice was, God forbid, actually trembling. "And...and Angel wouldn't let me kick you out. If she where still here."

"You and I know both know damn well this ain't got nothing to do with her."

The next thing Maureen knew, her body was pressed up against Benny's, making out along every wall in her apartment.

_Love...you're the one_

_all of my medicine..._

_Under my tongue_

_Because you are_

_everything I wanted_

_And I need your faith_

_and I need your love_

_to take my place_

_to rise above_

_to take my place_

_I need your trust_

_So hear me now_

_and I'll rise above..._

_And I'll stand up_

Roger sat cross-legged on the loft floor, tuning his Fender. God, Mimi... how could that have happened? She had to have given smack up for the baby, for _him_.

Mark's puppy (more like Bel's since she was the only one who bothered to take care of it) was playing with some balled-up newspaper in the corner. God knew what Collins and Dave were doing. Mark was on his honeymoon.

"Why?" He got his second fucking chance. So why had everyone else in his life who didn't ever get that possibility be so fucking happy, and yet his and Mimi's lives seemed to be crashing down like a flaming building.

_Besides...that smack wasn't necessarily Mimi's, was it? Because she wouldn't have hid it that well..._

Oh shit. Roger just realized that he had committed one major fuck-up, and if he didn't get his ass in gear, that fuck-up was gonna stay fucked-up. He put away his Fender, and headed downstairs.

However, Mimi was one thing. Bel, on the other hand, was a completely different story for Rog.

_Stand up...stand up_

_Stand up...stand up_

_And give me hope_

_and give me faith_

_and give me your_

_soul understanding..._

_

* * *

_

PS:

Alison: Your Springsteen obsession has gone too far.

Me: This has nothing to do with teh Bruce.

Alison: Right, so you just wrote a songfic chap coincidentally using his wife's music.

Me: Why can't I?

Alison: Argh...


	30. 28

* * *

AN: We've come to a milestone! 30 CHAPTERS! WHEE :dances around with Japanese fans: Domo, minna-san! Especially the fact that we have almost 1700 hits! YAY! (I'd like to hit 1800. If possible ) 

Alison: I can't believe you've written something that's this long.

You've never seen my LOTR ripoff, have you?

Alison: I really care not to think about that one.

Uh-huh.

Alison: Hey, you better mention something about the weeks prior to-what is it you're calling it? Oh yeah- "The best fucking thing EVER!"

I assume you mean the Rent movie.

Alison: No, HP 4. Of course I mean the goddamn movie!

With Adam and his sexash Bon Jovi hair...

Alison: (which he shaved off.)

(I told you never to speak of it.)

Alison: (JUST GET ON WITH THE GODDAMN THING)

(Oh, FINE) I'm trying to get as much as this done as I can before the movie comes out-

Alison: Lest we have another _Simply Because_ on our hands.

:glares: ANYWAY. After I have Mark and Tara return from their Maui trip, I might have to skip a few months. Maybe March of 1997 (I want this to last one year, from June 1996-June 1997.), throwing in the Maui trip as a filler (one word: TEQUILA.) Partially because I DO want to start wrapping this up, but also, because I wanna have the end finished before seeing the movie.

Alison: And so she doesn't screw herself over and screw up this fic.

Um, here's the ACTUAL story now. This AN's getting a bit long.

* * *

"Oh my God." Maureen stretched in her bed. That was probably the best sex she had in a while. Benny was very good in bed. Was Alison crazy or what, just for leaving that hunk of man- 

_Slow down, Mo_, her annoying little mind voice (which she choose to listen to on very _rare_ occasions),_ remember what's happened in everything else you've dived into? _ Which was probably referring to Mo's string of ex's. While all those may have seemed like complete disasters anyone else (and, okay, to maybe most of those ex's as well), Maureen thought of herself as being quite the successful _paramour_.

Okay, maybe Mark _may_ have been right some of times he called her "a clingy bitch." (Yes. Maureen did let him get away with calling her that. _Most _of the time, anyway.)

Oh, God, what was she _thinking_, anyway?

* * *

"Well," a cracking, wheezy, old-for-her-age said, "It's been a long time since you came for help, Michela." 

"Maamii..." Mimi whined, flopping on an empty hospital bed (as best as she could, now that she was showing), "I don't know why I stay with him all the time."

"Feh. You said this hasn't been the first time you've fought?" Mami shook her head. "Roger is a _cabron_, he's stupid, but he's loyal, _querida_."

"Define loyal, okay, Mami?"

"He's stayed with you even with that disease you have, no? Unlike a ungrateful bastard who leaves you for another woman, and _Jesu Christo_, you and I have enough of those men."

Mimi stared at her mother. "But you and Curtis..." No, don't bring up him. There were very few things that Mimi would compare her life to Mami's- Curtis not being on of them. "Oh, Mami, trust me it's not _that_. It's not that at all."

* * *

Collins put the "Out Causing Societal Destruction-Be Back In:" (a more, seemingly appropriate gift-giving attempt of Roger and Mark's, and one that Collins actually _found_ amusing), and locked his office door behind him. His classes were finished for the day, not to mention, the aspiring computer hackers and couch potatoes weren't that annoying. 

_Just because anything else is good_, he thought,_ doesn't mean it _is_ a good day. _At this moment, Collins was headed down the street to pick something up, even though Dave had offered, quite extensively.

The door beeped as he went through and headed straight toward the back. "Hey, Professor Collins!" A kid in his Advanced Computer Sciences class was behind the counter, with a shit-eating grin on his face. "Whassup?"

Collins was not one to be flustered. Of course, he wasn't flustered at that moment, but still maybe a little embarrassedfrom the "Whassup?" "The usual, Will," he said, surrendering his prescription refill receipt. _Don't think about it_. Collins absent-mindedly stared at the condoms in front of him, wondering if _Extra Ribbed for HER Pleasure_ would work with guys as well.

"Prof, I've got some good news and bad news," Will's voice broke Collins's (very weird for him) train of thought, "Good news is your refill's still good."

"And my bad news is...?"

Will tossed the bag of AZT bottles, which Collins almost dropped (he had never really that great at hand-eye coordination skills), and said, "It'll be a while before your next one."

* * *

Bel shoved the four-fifty into the Starbucks guy's hands. God, she was never _this_ pissed with Curtis (well, maybe save four or five times). Paul was on smack? And said smack was hiding out in her toliet seat? Oh God, she could be arrested for possession. Or even Meems or Roger... 

Especially since Roger was probably known as a user. Well, Bel didn't know that. But she had heard he went to rehab, which meant somewhere in the system, Roger must have been put down as a drug addict and-

_Am I plotting against my sister's boyfriend? _ She stopped dead in the sidewalk, people jostling her as they went by. As much as she never liked Roger, that never necessarily meant that Bel would _actually_ accuse Roger of anything.

_But he DID blame_ _you and Mimi for them, remember that? _ This was entirely true, for one thing. But, did it constitute taking revenge?

_Maybe..._ Bel sighed and continued down the street, sipping her mocha.

* * *

Roger looked nervously over his shoulder as he wove through the St. Mark's Place vendors. He really didn't want to have to do this, but given the circumstances, he was pretty much forced too. 

"Well, well, well. Welcome back, Lover Boy." Oh goodie. Just the scumbag he was looking for. "I suppose you ain't looking for some good fix, huh?"

"I told you, I'm _through_ with that shit. For good."

The Man gave his standard brown-stained grin. "So what happened to my shit, huh? You didn't flush it all away, did ya?" Silence from Roger. "Shit. _Oh shit! _ You fucking did, didn't ya?"

"What do you think?" The Man kicked a trash bag. "Look, dude, I didn't want it laying around, okay? I just-"

"It ain't about the shit!"

"Then why are you pissed at me!"

"Tough Guy owed me money! He says to me, that he's got the fucking great shit from some dude he knows in Tribeca, he's just stashing at some girlie's place."

Roger turned this over in his head. "So, wait, you're saying this 'Tough Guy' knows Mimi?"

"Nah, it's Sweetheart he's shacking up with." The Man kicked the bag again. "Dirty fucking double-crosser..."

"Whoa, what- did you ever deal to Bel? Tell the truth here."

He sneered at Roger. "Why should I, Lover Boy? You a narc now?"

Roger leaned in closer. "Because I will fucking kick your ass from here all the way to Avenue A if you don't start giving me some answers here."

The Man looked at Roger and then downwards. "Alright. This is what I got..."

* * *

"Well, what do you think?" 

He laughed as they watched the former tight-knit group started going their separate ways. "Oh, they'll get it _eventually_. But should I-?"

"You know what happened last time."

"Hmm. Good point there. Perhaps these guys do need a little nudge. Well, Rog and the Marquez sisters. But I think a visit to Miss Mo is in order as well..."

"Don't get too far ahead of yourself, girlfriend!"

* * *

PS: Oooh, look who's here! 

Angel: Hi honey. Congrats on the fic hitting 30 chapters. -

Thank you very much, Angel. I must also comment on your totally fabulous self on celluloid.

Angel: It does look good, doesn't it? Only...why did Adam Pascal shave his gorgeous locks off? He looked good!

...don't ask me...(is slightly disturbed by that question)

Angel:(:pats:) It'll be okay. Anyway, remember to review! Until next time!


	31. 29

* * *

AN: OMG, you guys! You have no idea how shocked I was this weekend to find we got a total of 2023 hits! OO :faints dead from remembering: 

Alison: She really means that too, you guys. I think she's coming to the _realization_ that people actually _enjoy_ her work. :nudges me with foot: Get up. Answer your feedback!

That Adam Pascal thing was that funny, huh?

Alison: And you obsess over his hair BECAUSE?

Hey, I _like_ the Bon Jovi look, okay? It make him look all sexah and RAWR!

Liv: HEY! ANGEH! ANGEH! (Thank you! )

LM Ward: Thanks.

Mimithebaby: I found out about Adam cropping his hair :CRIES: on the Rent blog site, where he had a video post.

btw, I made an icon expressing my feelings that can be found here: I also have fandom ones, HP/Rent ones, etc.

Kelby: I actually like his normal looking hair, too, but the BonJovi look was all RAWR! And then...he shaves it. SHAVES IT ALL OFF! Ack.

* * *

Bel was headed toward the train station, with plans to hit one of Broadway's smaller theaters. It was a rarity that she would head out this way, but then again she snagged an audition for a small group (pre-discovery of Paul's shooting up). At least this could get some of the other things off her mind. 

Bel and Meems hadn't reconciled as of yet, and Bel couldn't bring herself to comment to Roger, who, as it were, wasn't speaking to Mimi at all either. For the moment, Mimi was apartment-sitting for Mark and Tara, Roger was still in the loft, forcing Bel to stay with Mo for the time being (also giving Sandy the full run of bathrooms in _that_ apartment).

Anyway. She still needed one more train before she got there. She tapped her coffee cup and leaned up against a column. God, she just about hated her life.

A drag queen strutting his stuff pirouetted next to her. "Don't be glum, honey!" s/he said, "It's a wonderful day."

"Oh, fuck off," Bel muttered grouchily into her coffee.

* * *

Roger bit his lip as he got to this guy Paul's apartment. Oh geez, he was insane. Did AIDS affect your brain as well? He made a mental note to ask Collins that when he got back (that is, if the Man was right about this guy, if Rog made it back alive). 

Of course, he felt like he was going crazy. Come on, while he could pack a punch, but apparently this guy Paul was "real beefy, y'know? Like he's on that steroid shit, too," not to mention the only guy Roger had beaten up recently was Mark, who really was a wuss.

_Whatever,_ he thought, _Just go in, ask the guy if Bel's using and leave. That's all._ He knocked on the door. _Please, please, please don't kill me._

A petite black woman opened the door, wrapped up in a bedsheet. "Whaddya want?"

"Erm...Paul. Is he...?" Oh God, he was dead. Oh God...

"Yeah." She turned into the door. "Baby, you gotta customer here."

Roger stepped into the extremely nice looking apartment, as the girlfriend of Paul went back into the bedroom. No pictures of Bel to be seen (heck, no pictures of _any_ girlfriends), lots of state of the art electronic stuff around the place.

"Dude, what's you're looking for?" Rog turned around. Paul. The guy fit the two descriptions Roger knew of, the Man's and Bel's occasional ramblings about this guy. And not to mention the fact that Roger was definitely dead.

* * *

"Out of the abyss, walked this cow..." Long pause. "ELSIE." Oh God, _why_ did Bel let Mo talk her into this? 

Because Mo had found about said audition weeks before the shit hitting the fan, and insisted that Bel do her infamous performance piece. Including the damn cowbell.

"AIIIIIEE'VE GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE!" she screamed.

"HOLD IT!" The casting director crossed her hands above her head. Bel stopped and looked at her in the manner of a doe about to be struck by a semi. "Erm, is something wrong?" she asked.

"Are you sure that this is the role you want? Because that's a little..."

"Over-the-top?" Bel squeaked out.

"I would say so..." The casting woman smiled at her. "Look, you've got talent and aura. That's good, especially for theater. It's just...the piece is all wrong."

"Oh." Bel looked down. She was gonna kill Mo...

"Listen. Come and see me in a week, with a piece that fits you more, okay?" The woman ripped off a scrap of paper with her number written on it. "By the way, you live in Alphabet City?"

"Uh...yeah...why?"

"The piece sounded familiar, is all. Last time I heard it, a riot followed...but people were plenty pissed that night. Good luck, Isabel."

* * *

Benny opened his apartment door. "Is the Apocalypse coming? Because that's the only reason I can think why you would be here." 

"Shut...up..."Roger had one hand clamped over his forehead. "You got a first aid kit?"

"No shit." He let Roger in. "So what happened to you? Get in another fight with Mimi?"

"Why the fuck do you even still care about her?"

"I don't think any thing claiming that I 'still care' about Meems was mentioned. I just asked if she bitch-slapped you."

"Why, wanna trade war stories?"

Benny sighed. "Look, Rog, this is getting old. Me and Mimi? OLD NEWS, buddy. Bury the fucking hatchet."

"Whatever."

"So...what did happen?"

"Bel's boyfriend." Roger dabbed his eye with alcohol. "I made the sheer mistake of confronting him about leaving dope in my apartment, and then he got all into me about how come I fed his whole supply of smack to the New York Sewerline's alligator supply."

"Wait, did he really say that?"

* * *

Bel knocked back another coffee. Ugh. She really wanted that part, too! Maureen was so DEAD whenever she got back. 

"Oh, honey. Too much caffeine isn't good for you." Oh, geez. The queen from this morning.

"Uh-huh. Obviously, you've never had a ten am casting call."

"Oh dear." He adjusted his blond wig. "Are you okay, or just a New Yorker?"

"No, I am not fucking okay, okay? I'm shacking up at a friend's and I just lost my big break. I don't need a _queen_-ain't got nothing against ya, but _yeesh_- asking me if I'm okay?"

The queen titted. "Look, I'm just asking, okay?"

"Well, I'd like to keep my problems to myself." She knocked back another hit of coffee.

"Take a least a bit of advice, then."

"Shoot."

"Don't drive stake any further with your family. And you guys always have an angel watching over you."

As the queen flounced away, Bel felt very compelled to smash her head against the nearest column. It must be a Thursday. She could never really get the hang of Thursdays.

* * *

"So NOW what do you do?" Benny asked pouring another beer for Rog. 

"Obviously, drag my wounded pride and apologize. Especially to Meems."

"What about the other one...Bella?"

"Bel. Yeah, say something to her, too." Roger took a long drink. "Speaking of apologies, you better come up with a damn good one for Mimi. You have not seen that woman pissed."

"Need I remind you that she kicked my ass once?"

Roger thought back on this. "She wasn't pregnant."

"Oh sweet Jesus." Moment of uncomfortable silence. "So, when's-" sharp knock at the door- "the next show?"

"Shouldn't you answer that?" Rog asked through the continued knocking (which steadily progressed to a pounding)

"Yeah, getting it...eventually..."

Roger raised one of his eyebrows. "Really."

And then, (for those of you who might have seen this coming), the inevitable happened. "POOKIE! COME ON, OPEN UP!"

"Wait a minute..." Of course, the screech alone would have confirmed it, but the 'Pookie' clinched it. "YOU FUCKED MO!"

"WHAT'S IT TO YOU, ROG?" Maureen yelled. "COME ON, THESE BAGS ARE HEAVY! OPEN THE GODDA-" Before she even got the rest of the wail out, Benny threw the door open. "-amn door." Maureen grinned. "Hiya babe."

"Get the stuff?"

"Ooh, you betcha."

Roger looked at Benny, then to Mo, and the rinse and repeat. "You two, do whatever the kinky hell you want. I'm going to find something to beat this mere thought out of my head."

"Hey!"

"I DIDN'T MEAN IT THAT WAY!"

* * *

PS: Btw, I absolutely LOVE Maureen in that last bit. So her. 

Alison: The whole Bel doing Over the Moon is pretty funny too.

:nods: Oh, Roger has a concert in the next chap!

Alison: Is this so you can put _another_ song in here?

Um, Roger's a _musician_. I would think he would need a song.

Alison: Uh huh.

Oh! And Mark and Tara come back! YAY!

* * *


	32. 30

As always, thank you guys for continuing to read! It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. (Stats page- uber addictive.)

goddessofwisdom: Joanne will make an appearance in the Christmas chapter! (Mostly because everyone's invited to the loft that night. Heehee. And no, she's not too happy with Maureen and Benny.) And as for the trailer...I'm in a literal Hicksville. Which means NO Rent until the 23rd for me either. :cries:

Yet another song in this chapter. Tom Waits's "Jersey Girl" (but mostly inspired by teh Bruce's version). Heehee. Roger gets to "La!"

* * *

Yet another week had gone by, and Rog and Mimi STILL weren't talking. Mostly because Mimi would flat out hang up whenever Roger called. The girl knew how to hold something against someone. She also wasn't speaking to Bel... 

Enter Maureen's "Foolproof Everybody's Happy Plan!" Mo would invite Mimi out to the club were Roger had his next gig, where he would touchingly get back together with Mimi. Bel was also to come, to apologize, as was Benny for mostly the same reasons. (also for the fact that Maureen fully planned to get him in the ladies' room)

The reactions?

Roger- "Mo. Give it up. NOW."

Bel- "Do you really know my sister?"

Dave- "It's worth a shot...it _did_ work that other time, right?"

Collins- "(shrugs)"

Benny- "Anyone every tell you that you HAVE LOST YOUR MIND?"

The place? Gaines's, an old club that Rog used to play WAY back in the day. Even before the Hungarians. (In fact, the current manager was in A/V club with Mark back at Scarsdale High. "Talk about a small fucking world," Roger mentioned later.)

Mimi refused to go in, however. "No. I am not going in there and falling for his "I'm an idiot, take me back" thing again. No fucking way."

"Oh, COME ON." Maureen dragged her into the club...which was only successful until they got to the designated table, where at the moment, Benny and Bel sat. Mimi glared at Mo. "You're really trying to piss me off, aren't you?" she growled.

"I'm just here for alcohol," Benny offered. Thus, turning all hatred at the moment to Bel, who sighed and said, "Look, Meems- I didn't know. I've dumped the ass, by the way, and I do NOT do smack." Mimi sighed heavily. "Have I ever lied to my big sister before?"

"No, because when you did, I would bitch out the truth from you." Mimi blew a strand of loose hair off her forehead. "Sorry I blew up at you too."

"Hey!" Benny interjected. "What about me?"

"You, I'm not even getting into. And I so know you're not here for the drinks." Benny and Maureen looked at each other really quickly. "Wait-no. NO."

"What's the big idea?" Maureen shrugged and then smiled. "You didn't mention how fine he was under the sheets, either." Mimi's head made contact with the table top. "Don't wanna think about that..."

"Hey, what's wrong with Mami Mimi?" Dave asked as he and Collins came up to them, having just arrived.

"Don't ask," Mimi muttered.

* * *

Roger's set started a half-hour later. Unfortunately, the stage lights made it impossible to seen beyond the first couple of rows, so he couldn't tell if Mimi (and company) were there or not. Gut reaction, though? It said that she was, and she was still pissed. _Don't start with something like 'Your Eyes'..._ he thought, as the band's drummer counted off. 

He and the band did some old Hungarian tunes, two or three new songs, random covers of bands Roger had always liked. Quickie intermission, time for the solo part of the show.

Rog sat down on a stool with a guitar in his lap. He strummed it a few times. "How are you guys tonight?" Obligatory screams. "Huh. Well, what's going on in my life...my best friend got married last week, but he couldn't make it tonight. He's in Maui, on his honeymoon. Can't wait for his return. Um, what else? Been feeling great. Not too sick lately. And... Well, um...I don't really talk about this sorta thing up here, but, um. I've got some trouble with my girl lately." (Mimi: "That...BASTARD! Private shit!") "But, um...I've been trying to say I'm sorry. And, for one thing, she's originally from Jersey, plus she's got our baby to worry about." Louder screams. Mimi was getting a little more pissed. "So...this one's dedicated to Mimi. I'm sorry, and this isn't much of an apology, but it's the best I could do:

_I got no time for the corner boys_

_Down in the street making all that noise_

_Or the girls out on the avenue_

'_Cause tonight I wanna be with you_

_Tonight I'm gonna take that ride_

_Across the river to the Jersey side_

_Take my baby to the carnival_

_And I'll take her on all the rides_

'_Cause down the shore everything's all right_

_You and your baby on a Saturday night_

_You know all my dreams come true_

_When I'm walking down the street with you_

_Sha la la la la la la_

_Sha la la la la la la la la_

_Sha la la la la la la la_

_Sha la la la I'm in love with a Jersey girl_

_  
You know she thrills me with all her charms_

_When I'm wrapped up in my baby's arms_

_My baby gives me everything_

_I know that some day she'll wear my ring_

_So don't bother me, man, I ain't got no time_

_I'm on my way to see that girl of mine_

'_Cause nothing matters in this whole wide world_

_When you're in love with a Jersey girl_

_Sha la la la la la la_

_Sha la la la la la la la la_

_Sha la la la la la la la_

_Sha la la la I'm in love with a Jersey girl_

_I see you on the street and you look so tired_

_I know that job you got leaves you so uninspired_

_You're lyin' all dressed up on the bed, baby, so fast asleep_

_Go in the bathroom and put your makeup on_

_We're gonna take that little baby of ours _

_And drop her off at your mom's _

_I know a place where the dancing's free_

_Now baby won't you come with me_

'_Cause down the shore everything's all right_

_You and your baby on a Saturday night_

_Nothing matters in this whole wide world_

_When you're in love with a Jersey girl..._

Mimi just stood there with her mouth open. Well. Just...huh. (Damnit, that man did it AGAIN! WHY did she fall for it, WHY?) But, as she was listening to the song about Jersey ( which, really was a true fact- Mimi and Bel lived on the north Jersey shore until Mimi had started middle school, when Mami married Curtis and they all uprooted to Brooklyn), it seemed like...she didn't know..._did Rog just fucking PROPOSE to me?_

Of course, she couldn't find out the answer to that question until after the show. But she still moved as fast as she could, being out of breath as she reached the backstage door.

Roger did automatically notice her, but the A/V dude was still trying to rehash some not-too-fond (on Roger's part, anyway) of Scarsdale High. "So, you remember Mr. Tase, right, man?" he kept going on.

"Dude," Rog said, "I gotta go talk to someone."

"Well, okay, just say hi to Cohen for me and all-"

Mimi looked at A/V Boy. "And that is?"

"Don't ask. I thought we weren't speaking."

"Well, um..." Mimi looked down. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you earlier."

"Sorry..." Roger mumbled, "Sorry I flipped out on you. I didn't mean it."

"So, um, the song." Mimi started playing with her hair. "Were you trying to say something?"

"Huh? No. It's just a song that reminded me of you."

"Oh. I just thought..."

Roger smiled, and kissed her. "It doesn't matter. At least we're speaking." They kissed a little while longer. "You need to meet Mami," Mimi said at one point when they were apart.

"Do I have to?"

"_Yes..._"

* * *

The next day found Bel, Rog, and Meems at the hospital, waiting for Curtis to finish visiting Mami. (Dave and Collins headed to the airport to pick up Mark and Tara from their flight home, and God knows what Maureen and Benny were doing.) All, however, seemed not peaceful at the hospital. 

"So, this guy's your stepfather and he kicked you out?" Roger asked.

Mimi nodded. "I try to avoid him as much as I can."

"You never told me what happened to your real dad, huh?"

"He's off in Key West, last we heard," Bel said, "last time being when we were still living across the Hudson and Mami had just gotten engaged to Curtis."

"Should I ask?" Roger whispered.

Mimi shook her head. "Bel...never got over Papi leaving. She despises Curtis more than I do."

"I can hear you," Bel taunted.

It was at this point Curtis stormed out with a string of Spanish insults pouring out the door. "Oh great, it runs in the family," Roger muttered, as Mimi pulled him in.

"Hi Mami!" Bel flounced over, and pecked her mother on the cheek. Mami smiled and turned her gaze on Roger. "Mimi, chica, this is he?"

Mimi nodded, and her mother gave him the once-over. "Ah, so you are Roger the _cabron. _ I'm happy to meet you finally."

"Pleasure's mine...um." Roger paused. "Sorry, I kinda flunked Spanish. What's 'cabron' again?"

"Goat," Mami said, matter of factly, causing Roger's eyes to bug out. "Say what!"

* * *

"Omigod!" Dave squealed. "They're docking!" He and Collins were waiting at the airport gate as the 1.35 incoming flight from Maui began unload its occupants. Five minutes passed and then... "MARK! TARA!" 

The two of them walked out with the rest of the crowd, Tara nicely tanned and highlighted, laughing at something, Mark looking even redder WITH his sunburn. "It's not funny," he kept saying.

"Hey, little bro!" Tara ran up and hugged Dave. Collins looked at Mark, and smirked. "Should I ask...?"

"NO." was all Mark said.

"So, how was the sex-filled honeymoon?" Dave said, as they headed down the concourse.

Mark and Tara looked at each other. "Well..." Tara started...

* * *

:Hmm. Alison hasn't bugged me yet. WHEE: 

Little authoress's note concerning the next few chaps: The next chapter will be in two parts, dealing with the Maui honeymoon (and we will find out why Mark is so red-even though that really doesn't need an explaination and also Tara's obsession with hot tubs and TPing). After that, we jump straight ahead to the Christmas chapter (which I haven't written yet- almost finished with Maui), and then jump another couple months to March. (Yeah, I'm desperate to get this AS quickly as possible before the movie comes out But, also, it's a little hard to keep up with BIG storylines. January & February will be their downtime. )

Read and review, please!


	33. 31 The Honeymoon! Pt 1

AN: Hi everyone! Thank you for all the reviews for last chap. Very happy Laurs here. -

Well, we have part 1 of the Maui chap! Whee! Pale!Mark.

Alison: So WHY did you put it in two parts again?

Because the second part is horribly long.

Alison: You could've cut the karaoke thing.

I enjoy the karaoke thing. It's cute.

Alison: Whatever. My second beef: Amy and Stuart Hertz. YOU USED THE T.O.D.?

They're on loan from Sensei's books. Besides, they're _perfect _to go up against Mark and Tara.

Alison: Why?

:chucks copy of "Boy Meets Girl": I've highlighted the passages that explains my actions.

* * *

Mark and Tara's Maui Honeymoon:

_Ladies and gentleman, we are now preparing to land...please bring your seats to the upright positions and close trays._

Mark stared out the window. Palm trees. Fucking _palm trees_. And they weren't fake like the ones he was used to. They were real.

Tara laid her head on his shoulder. "What, never seen a beach before?"

"Not with ones were everything was tropical, nope."

"Huh?"

He smiled at her. "Don't ask. Back in the day, that's all."

They were registered at a Marriot right by the beach and everything. "Ooo!" Tara pointed out the stack of fliers on the counter. "They've got nightly luaus and tours and all these other things to do!" She grabbed at the whole array.

"You should have warned me about your uber-tourist self," Mark dead-panned, grabbing the room keys.

"What?" Tara laughed, "You've never taken a vacation? I'd thought you'd be the uber-tourist with the camera and all."

"...please don't tell me you actually thought that."

"Yeah. I did. Really." (Although, he could forgive Tara for thinking that, as everyone _else_ Mark knew considered the camera to be a detachable body part.)

* * *

Their room was up on the eighth floor, with a balcony overlooking a gorgeous view of the beaches towards the north and some of the tropical forests and volcanoes towards the south part of the island. The room in itself was a white and blue, with a big bed and, as Tara discovered, "We've got a hot tub! YES!" 

"Yeah...my dad's kinda loaded," Mark explained. "I mean, not really loaded, like the Greys, but-"

"I get it." She smiled. "So, you wanna check out this bathroom or what?"

Tara had even managed to talk Mark into going the luau dinner show. They got seated next to a couple in their thirties who claimed to be taking their second honeymoon. "Oh. Well, erm," Mark said, "We've just started our first."

"Really?" said the man, Stuart. "What line of work are you in?"

"Filmmaking," Tara answered. "It's not much, but he's got something lined up for the Angelika, right?"

"Don't they show all those weird foreign films?" His wife, Amy, wrinkled up her nose. "God, talk about taking away your country's economic pride."

"Don't worry your sweet head about that, my angel," Stuart said, nuzzling her.

"Are they for _real?_" Tara whispered.

"I did not just hear that, I did not just hear that..." Mark muttered, putting his head down on the table.

"Something wrong?" One of the two, now officially declared yuppie scum (although with an attitude as such, was there another level below scum?), asked.

"Oh, no, nothing..."

It was a wonder how they even got through that dinner. The Hertzes would complain about everything that was wrong about the world, while all Mark and Tara could do was sit there and gape at _what _they were saying. (Although, somehow the topic of homosexuality came up, and Tara had never condoned someone putting her brother's lifestyle down. Ditto with Mark about Angel, Collins, Dave, Joanne, etc. He just wasn't as vocal. But as equally pissed.)

"I say we do something heinous to them," Mark said after the dinner was over, and was walking along the beach with Tara (yes, her idea. Again).

"Oo, is this like summer camp, and we TP their awesome hot tub?"

"What is your obsession with that hot tub?" Mark asked. "Although...I'm not above TP-ing them."

"You're the last person I'd EVER thought to agree with me on that." She grinned "We should _so _do it..."

* * *

While the majority of their first week was spent away from the Hertzes (albeit running into them on occasion, and then pulling anonymous pranks on them), Mark and Tara did the normal, touristy things. Mark didn't have the camera (but that was more because it was "antique, and if I get sand in it..."), but he did document the two of them touring the islands. 

"Oh! Look at the flowers!" Tara ran over to the side of the path. They were on another nature tour. Mark was just straight out bored. It was cool the first few days, especially with all those exotic animals (and, living in New York, the closest to exotic and/or nature was Central Park), but now it was all meh to him. "Oh," Tara said, fingering the petals. "I should've seen if we could have gotten these for the wedding bouquets."

"Did you forget that we're _already_ married?" Mark dead panned. He was so not in his element. Islands, especially when forced to dress in shorts and a bright red and blue shirt, was not him. "I mean, why bother thinking about the details now?"

"Oh, you're no fun." She plucked a little flower and tucked in behind her ear.

"Hey," Mark said, grinning and bringing the camera to eye level, "Strike a pose." Tara giggled and complied. As much as her husband (how weird it was to think of Mark as that now) didn't seem to get out and have some _fun_ for once in his life, he did know when to bust out that box a _little_ bit.

"Oh, darling, look who it is!" Tara stopped dead in her supermodel posing. "Run. _Now_," she stage-whispered.

Unfortunately, they didn't get far away enough to lose the Hertzes. "Isn't it beautiful out here?" Amy started gushing to Tara.

"Yeah...um...We were just about to leave..." she stammered.

"Really? Where're you headed too?"

"Um. The beach! We were going surfing, right, honey?" Tara smiled sweetly at Mark, although what she was really trying to get across was that, _Go along with me, or I swear, I will hurt you._

"Um. Yeah. Surfing." FUCK. Fuck. Wherever the HELL Tara came up with that excuse, if Mark was forced to go through with it, he was going to kill her. (Well not kill her, but still get very pissed at her.)

Which he felt like doing. "WHY are we surfing?"

"To get those two off our backs," Tara answered, matter of factly, as she shimmied into her bathing suit. "Get those trunks on."

"Erm, no. I'll pass."

"Oh, come on. You're not flabby?" Tara grabbed at his shirt. "Hey!" Mark tried fighting her off, but Tara kept going at it, laughing the whole time. "Oh ho ho ho," she said, laughing, having finally managed to get his shirt off, "so _that's_ why you don't wanna put on the trunks, huh?"

If you haven't guessed, underneath the shirt was white. Like bleached white. Mark blushed. "It's not that...you know we're gonna suck at this, right?"

* * *

The next day came two surprises, both in the morning. Tara had gone downstairs, looking for a newspaper, while Mark was still sleeping. 

"Hon! Look what I found downstairs!" Tara said, bounding into their hotel room.

"Whazzit?" A despectled, mussed hair head of Mark popped up from under the pillows.

"Apparently there's gonna be this contest, for couples staying at the hotel, and ..."

"And what?" muttered a still covered Mark, poking one arm out from under the sheets, groping for his glasses.

"Mark? Take off the sheets."

"Why?"

Tara didn't answer, she just tore off the sheet. "Did you remember to put on sun screen?"

"YEAH." Mark's torso was a bright pinkish shade of red now. "I just...burn...easily..." His face now matched the rest of his body.

"Oh, Lord." Tara shook her head.

"So, what were you saying about this contest?" Mark said, reaching over for his glasses.

"It's a three day competition. Day one is all sports events- you know, tug of war, egg toss."

"...what's the other two?"

"It's not that bad. Day two is a quiz type event. Day three is the final contest and subsequent crowning."

"Oh." Mark stretched (as best he could). "Well, that should be fun, watching everyone else getting all into this."

"Including us."

"Wait, what?"

"Oh. That's the other thing." Tara smiled. "I signed us up when I saw it."

Mark's jaw dropped as Tara headed into the shower. "I would've liked to have had consultation on this, thank you!"

* * *

PS: Poor Mark's sunburnt. Heeheehee. 

Alison: I still don't know why you used those characters. But so be it, and Godspeed.

Hee. Next chappie will be part 2, in which the actual contest takes place. Watermelon splitting, uncomfortable questions and KARAOKE! WHEE!


	34. 31 The Honeymoon! Pt 2

AN:humming along to the Rent OST:

Al: HOW many times have you listened to Tango?

My player says 10.

Al: Uh huh :coughobsessedcough:

But it's sooo GOOD. And it's got the Nanette Himmelfarb line. THE NANETTE LINE.

Al: Right. Onto business, then, shall we?

Oh, FINE.

Sorry, I meant to have this up sooner, but I'm still writing the holiday chapters. Yes. Chapters. I think it's gonna be longer than I hoped. :sighs:

Lyrics in this chap belong to Tom Petty and Bob Summers (I think.) The Hertzes are lovingly borrowed from Meg Cabot (Domo SENSEI!)

* * *

Day One: 

Mark crossed his arms over his number. "Why..."

"It'll be fun." Tara smiled, and pinned her corresponding to her chest. "Now, shush, they're about to start."

_Test, test..._ Attention snapped to the various speakers placed around the competition area. _Hi! Welcome to Maui Marriott's third annual Great Couple Contest, sponsored by the Kaluki Surfing School! Let's give a big hand to all of our contestants!_

Applause. "I feel like a loser version of Roger," Mark whispered.

"Is it possible to have a loser version of Roger?"

Mark thought about this. "It is now."

_And now, we'd like to introduce our loving contestants! _ Apparently, Mark and Tara weren't the only ones who thought that this seemed like a fun (or in Mark's opinion, insane) thing to do. There were maybe about a hundred couples, some bored, some confused, and quite a few overenthusiastic pairs. Including- oh, yes- the Hertzes, team 24. The Cohens were team 25.

"My sisters used to do this all the time!" Amy chirped to them.

"Oh..." Tara forced to smile. (As nice as she was, Tara found it EXTREMELY hard to stay nice to these people. Yeesh.) "That's, um, nice."

"Yup. Pi Delts _always _have these sort of contests, to show that our love is forever!"

"I'm scared," Tara whispered to Mark, "Hide me."

"I think that should be the least of our problems..._watermelon splitting?_"

"What?" Tara stared at him.

"That's what we gotta do first." He looked over his shoulder at the many watermelons scattered around the beach. "Hit those with wooden bats. We're screwed."

Tara looked at the same sight. "Yup. We're screwed."

"No upper body strength for you either, huh?" he asked, with a slight smile on his face.

"You have no idea..."

_Here are the rules for our first competition! Each couple gets a number of watermelons to smash with wooden bats! The top 50 go onto the next round!_

"So...we _might_ have a chance."

"Yeah. Riight, Mark. Right." Tara grabbed a bat. "Where's Mimi and Mo when you need them?"

_Ready! Set! GO!_

Sand kicked up in front of the crowd, with yelling and cracking and splooshing ringing throughout the air.

"ARGH!" Mark yelled, almost tearing off his glasses. "Sand! Eye! Pain!"

Tara herself stepped on about half the group and whacked a good twenty more. At this point, she was considering maybe she _should_ have consulted Mark about this...

_Time!_ When the dust settled, the scene was out of a war movie. Cracked watermelons oozed everywhere, some people were sore and whining. Mark was rubbing his eyes. "I look like Collins after a rough day of classes..."

_Ladies and gentlemen, if you can give us a few moments, we'll have the results of the watermelon contest shortly! In the meantime, feel free to help yourself at the buffet!_

"I don't think I ever wanna see another watermelon again," Tara said, poking at her fruit salad. After lunch, the score results got posted...and Mark and Tara made it to the next round, amazingly enough. "We _barely_ made it," Mark sighed. In total, couple 25 smashed 10 watermelons, compromising the bottom ten couples. "How'd they figure out those scores, anyway?"

_And now for our next competition! A water balloon contest! _"Oh, sweet Jesus," Tara groaned, "_Why_ this?"

"You're not good at this?" Mark asked.

"Heh heh." Tara tried her best to smile. "We would play this at family reunions, and Dave and I have no hand-eye coordination whatsoever."

"Well...that's...sort of...comforting..."

"Oh, please, like you would have any amazing athletic skills?"

_Each team gets two balloons to use. Once both are broken, that team is automatically disqualified! The ten teams left standing or have the furthest distance will move onto tomorrow's competition!_

Two bulging balloons were plopped into Tara's hands, and Mark lined up with the rest of the guys. "Oh, God. Middle school all over again," he laughed, "Just no Roger sulking right next to me."

_Ready...and GO!_

Tara gently tossed it to the over side where Mark caught it. Well, that was no surprise, being that they were barely far away from each other at all. She took a step back and waited for Mark's go ahead.

As the contest wore on, Tara noticed something. Yes, she wasn't good at the game at all (their first balloon broke already, and she missed at least five consecutive times), but Mark was _actually_ catching them. By some discreet miracle, they were among the last seven pairs left, with Mark standing away a good distance.

"INCOMING!" Mark yelled and chucked it across the empty space. The purple blob flew through the air and started coming down a little bit away from Tara, who started to back up for it. As it sailed down, she dove headfirst into the sand, where, after picking her head up, the balloon exploded right in front of her face.

"Right then," said one of the judges, "Team 25, disqualified from this competition, but congratulations! You're moving to tomorrow's round."

"Thanks," wheezed Tara, who then started coughing up sand.

"Hey, we lucked out again." Mark came up behind her, grinning.

"Where'd you learn to throw and catch like that?"

He shrugged. "My brother-in-law and nephew usually insist on playing touch football on Thanksgiving, and so I had to be tutored so that 'Uncle Mark doesn't throw like a girl.' Still sucked though..."

"Uh huh. What about catching my sloppy throws?"

"Did you forget? I used to live with Maureen. She gets pissed, shit goes flying."

* * *

Day 2: 

"Oh God." Mark groaned. "Why didn't we fail miserably yesterday?"

"What?" Tara said, "This isn't athletic like yesterday."

Mark nudged his clipboard of personal questions. "There are some things I'd _like_ to keep private, thank you."

"Oh, are you embarrassed that we don't..." Tara consulted her own clipboard. "...own or have read _The Karma Sutra_?"Mark was silent. "You HAVE!"

"...Maureen had a copy..."

"Oh, you are such a typical man," she said, playfully hitting him.

_And welcome back to day two of the Maui Marriott's Great Couple Contest! Here we have our remaining contestants who survived _(Mark: "Well, _that's_ saying something.") _yesterday's competition! _ Round of applause, along with the feeling of being "Loser Roger" again.

_After proving their athletic skills for our judges, our remaining couples today prove how much they know about each other! Each team member has filled out a survey, which we will take our questions from. Then, our judges will question our teams about each other's partner. We wish everyone good luck!_

"This is the part were I'm really regretting having only been with you for like four months," Mark said quietly.

"Oh, please don't tell me you're getting upset by this." Tara stared down at her husband. "What _matters_ is that I love you and, even if I don't know everything about you, Marky, that's why I stayed with you."

"Tara, hon?"

"Yes?" she answered, smiling (fully knowing what he was about to say).

"Don't-"

"Call you Marky. I know."

_For today's competition, we've sorted our couples by alphabetical order! So please welcome our first victims- I mean, COUPLE- Mark and Tara Cohen!_

"Talk about our great luck," Mark groaned as he and Tara went up to the stage and sat down in their seats.

"Well, welcome!" said the increasingly obnoxious host, "I understand you two are on your honeymoon!"

"Um...yeah..." Mark said, nervously.

"Ah, I see the little lady's got you tongue-tied!" Laughter. From, oh, just about the front row, and some idiots who laughed at this sort of thing. "Now, let's begin with our Q&A. First set- bedroom questions!" And intro the horny couples going "Oooooo!" "First question! How many times a week do you do it?"

"Um. Erm..."

"Um..." Tara stammered, "A couple times a week..." Boos from the crowd.

"Ah, we should deduct points from that answer! Next question! Mr. Cohen, I understand you dabble in movie making?"

Oh fuck. Mark knew what was coming. He slapped his hand to his forehead. "Yeah. I'm a filmmaker."

"So, I can assume this question will be easy for you! What is the strangest thing you've done in bed?"

He knew what they wanted. _"Why yes, we did make a sex film."_ Uh huh. Yup, that's what he was _so_ going to say.

"Oh, probably the time he started quoting Star Wars our first couple of months together," Tara said, laughing, "and I joined in."

The crowd seemed to accept that. "I thought we weren't supposed to talk about that..." Mark whispered. (Yes. That was a true story.)

"Well, would you like them to think you're a porno freak, just because of the camera?" Tara whispered back.

Mark mulled as long as he could. "Okay, you win."

The questions keep growing increasingly awful, ranging from more bedroom tricks to personal preferences in just about anything. Mark couldn't even answer half of them, and the ones he did were received with various jeers.

Apparently, being a newlywed starving artist added to some other people's horniness factors.

But at least, as with all things, Mark's personal torture was nearly over. "Well, time for our special guest judges to rate the couples! Whaddya think?"

Judge number 1, a former Miss Hawaii said, "You know I love that your man's such a little geek." Mark turned completely red (again). "I say a nine point five."

Judge number 2, the hotel owner's twenty-two year old son: "Agreeing with her! But dude. Eight."

Judge number 3, formerly famous model: "Um, yeah. You two are so cute! A nine."

"Well, that gives you two a grand total of 27.5! Let's give it up for Mark and Tara!"

As they waved, Tara nudged Mark. "Well, that wasn't _too_ painful now was it?"

"Oh, God. Don't get into it. Please. I beg of you."

Since they were pretty much exempt from the rest of the day's activities, Tara wanted to go in the hot tub _again_ (out of the six days they had been there, five nights so far had been spent in that thing), but Mark wanted to see how bad the Hertzes would embarrass themselves. "Can we be jerky to them?" Tara asked.

"Oh, when did we turn to the Dark Side, Miss 'We're the Only Nice New Yorkers?'" Mark joked.

"Hey. NO ONE talks about my little brother's lifestyle like that. _Especially_ in front of me. They deserve it."

And while the pleasantries of how Mark and Tara's yuppie scum rivals were mocked would seem like a good thing, it is more important what Mark had happened to hear upon while securing alcohol for both him and Tara.

Mark had found a huge cooler brimmed with various beers and other forms of liquor, especially for the contestants. "I can't believe they're tied with us!" said an extremely annoying, and familiar voice. Amy Hertz.

"Who do they think they are?"Mark tried to remain as inconspicious as possible. Oh God, they weren't talking about him and Tara, were they? Although it could have been possible- "They're...ARTISTS! They can't afford a place like this!"

Yup. The Hertzes were not as warm and loving as they seemed to be. (Well, _of course_ Mark had known that. This was just the first time he'd ever heard them speak nasty about him and Tara.) "So, what do we do?" Stuart was mumbling.

"I think the first judge said somewhere that she was Pi Delt. I mean, if sorority doesn't win her over..."

"Amy, my sweet, you've never had experience in dealing with former charter members, have you? Greek organizations practically assimilate their collegiate brethren."

Mark quickly grabbed his beers and got as quick as he could back to Tara. "Geez, what took you so long?" she asked.

"I ran into the yuppie scum."

"Ew." Tara wrinkled up her nose. "What'd they do?"

"Well..." Mark sighed, "This is what I got..."

* * *

Mark, for one, had never really liked any sort of competition like this. With his films, at least there were some things to judge, but this was pure guesswork. Especially the fact that he didn't like the sound of the final round. "Karaoke. You're fucking me, aren't you?" 

"Literally, yes, Mark," Tara said, "but what's your problem with it? People get drunk and do it in bars all the time."

"See, that's the thing. The drunk part."

Tara's eyebrows went up. "The Life had a karaoke night?" (As that being the only place she knew where Mark went out drinking.

_Maureen draped herself over an ever stiffening Mark, with one hand firmly clutching the shot glass. "Gonna give you all my love, boy," she sang, "My fear is fadin' fast. Been savin' it all for ya, boy, cuz only love can last." She downed the shot before launching into the next verse. _

"_God, I love Tequila Karaoke Night, don't you, Mark?" Roger said grinning into the camera in Collins's hands. "Especially during this part. You freeze up EVERY time, dude."_

_Mark managed to flip him off before Maureen waved her curls in his face. "Ooo, like a virgin..."_

"Oh, wait." Tara smiled. "Does this have anything to do with your Maureen days, or so I hear from Rog and Collins?"

"Did they show visual?"

"You filmed it? Well, wait, that shouldn't surprise me..."

"Yes. And I don't like showing _or_ talking about it."

* * *

Day 3: 

Yes, for those of you haven't guessed it, the final round of the competition consisted of a karaoke contest. Tara and Mark had their choosing between a duet (which Mark flat out refused. "Can you conceive the cheese factor in that?") or each person singing a separate song.

The final round was held the second to last evening of their stay, and during one of the nightly luaus. So that meant that the place was more packed than usual.

Oh yes. They had made with four other couples. Exactly how Mark and Tara made it far seemed to be a mystery. Also the fact that they were tied for first with-yeah, and you guessed that too- the Hertzes.

_Good evening, everyone! We at the Maui Marriott hope you're enjoying our nightly luau dinner! Tonight's entertainment is a little different from what you've been experiencing but we hope you all enjoy it!_

The remaining victims were placed in the order of lowest score to highest, and then for those doing two songs, the guy before the girl. Which would have been only Mark and Tara's idea.

After ear-wrenching renditions of classic love songs (Tara: "Now _there's_ a loser version of Roger"), Mark was forced to endure this particular torture.

_Now, in tie for first place, our next performer is Mr. Mark Cohen! Give him a round of applause!_

Mark stood in the bright spotlight, barely seeing past the first row. Well, while he wasn't Roger, he could show all them what he was made of. The background music kicked in, and he started to sing:

_Well I started out down a dirty road_

_Started out all alone_

_And the sun went down as I crossed the hill_

_The town lit up the world got still_

_I'm learning to fly but I ain't got wings_

_Comin' down is the hardest thing_

This...wasn't too bad. He started to kind get into it.

_Well the good old days may not return_

_And the rocks might melt, and the sea may burn_

_I'm learning to fly but I ain't got wings_

_Comin' down is the hardest thing_

Guitarsolo. Mark grabbed Tara from her seat and began dancing with her onstage for a little bit. She laughed as she landed back in her seat so Mark could finish up.

_Well some say life will beat you down_

_Break your heart, steal your crown_

_So I started out for God knows where_

_But I guess I'll know when I get there_

_I'm learning to fly around the clouds_

_But what goes up must come down_

_I'm learning to fly but I ain't got wings_

_Comin' down is the hardest thing_

_I'm learning to fly around the clouds_

_But what goes up must come down_

_I'm learning to fly_

_I'm learning to fly_

The audience went _nuts_. Very much like they did for Roger back in the Hungarian days (and Mark knew what that was like very well). Of course, that was the opposite reaction he had been expecting...but if they liked it, they liked it. _Well, thank you, Mark for that great song and dance routine. Now, let's hear it for his partner, Tara!_

Tara got herself onstage, and seemed almost dwarfed by the spotlight. Her music started in, with a light vocal part, which she sang along with, and drum beats. She started to sing after a couple beats:

_When I think about the first time,_

_I thought I found someone who cared for me,_

_But things were not as they appeared to be._

_Rainy day man, on your shoulder I cried,_

_When my first brush with love, left me shaking inside,_

_Rainy day man._

Tara's voice took on a soft, wistful tone as she sang. It sounded like she bounded with the pain of the song.

_Ever since I can remember,_

_Just like a brother you've been strong and true,_

_Always been the one to see me through._

_Rainy day man, you're much more than a friend,_

_I would give anything, just to see you again,_

_Rainy day man_

Unlike Mark, she didn't do much during the instrumental part. (Well, it was short too.) But her singing this song, made her seem...Mark didn't know, vulnerable? She had her head down for a good bit, and then stared straight into the audience, reaching out in front of her.

_Always been the one to see me through._

_Rainy day man, on your shoulder I cried,_

_When my first brush with love, left me shaking inside,_

_Rainy day man, you're much more than a friend,_

_I would give anything, just to see you again,_

_Rainy day man_

_Rainy day man,_

_Rainy day man,_

_Rainy day man,_

_Rainy day man._

She smiled and finished as the crowd applauded. "Well." Mark said, once she got back, "Talk about a downer."

"Oh, and your song was?"

"Hey, my song was upbeat, Miss Rainy." She laughed. "And that was scarily referencial to our own relationship. Is that why-"

"No, I just liked it, okay?" Tara leaned over and kissed him. "Come on, our rivals are about to do a horrible rendition of Whitney Houston."

"You lie."

She wasn't. Everyone there was subjected to a soaring, high E note duet of "I Will Always Love You" (Mark: "Can we talk cliche here?"), which fell victim to a near dead applause. "That's not good, huh?" Mark said.

"UGH. Ear plugs, please."

"Too late for that."

Five minutes can seem like an incredibly long time during these sorts of moments, and I'm quite sure this is how the Hertzes were feeling. However, I can't say the same for our couple in question.

"Oh please! One more night in that thing! It's awesome!"

Mark shook his head. "For your information, we are _not_ getting a hot tub when we get back home."

"Which is why I want to enjoy every chance I got with it here."

"Women. Never did get you."

"Oh, but it's sooo nice- Hey! They've got the results."

_Ahem. After confirming with our judges, we now have the results for this year's Great Couple Contest! In third place with a total of 101.2 points are...AMY AND STUART HERTZ! _The Hertzes' facial expressions once it hit them could be expressed in just three little words: What. The. FUCK!

_In second place, with a total of 103 points are JEN GREENLY AND SCOTT BENNETT! _ Two young kids giggled and waved to the audience.

_And finally...drum roll, thank you...our first place winners, with a grand total of 107 points, ladies and gentlemen, the winners of this year's Great Couple Contest are MARK AND TARA COHEN!_

"We won!" Mark squeaked. He didn't know who was more shocked at this point- him for actually winning, Tara for actually succeeding in this seemingly insane plan in the first place, or the Hertzes for losing to a couple of "artists."

Immediately, they were both showered with leis and crowns, and pleads for a couple dance. "Just..whoa." Mark shook his head. "I really wasn't hoping for this."

"Well, that's because you never thought of the possibility of us winning," Tara said, laying her head on his shoulder as they danced.

"But that's because...just..."

"Just what?"

"Just that...I don't think we needed to enter a contest to prove that we're a great couple. I mean, anyone back home could tell us that."

Tara lifted her head. "That's not why I entered us!"

Mark gaped at her. "Then what was I subjected to three days of torture for?"

"I was trying to get you to enjoy our vacation! Which, I might add, I succeeded in doing."

"I...oh geez. I, um..." Tara silenced him with a finger on the lips. "You can make it up to me in the hot tub tonight. Kay?"

* * *

Mark dropped five packets of pictures onto the folded table. "Oh God, it's the same with still photography?" Tara laughed. 

"Not funny." Mark was flipping through the different packets. "We are so hiding these from everyone when we get back."

"I thought Roger tormenting you was apart of your daily lifestyle?"

"So, what do you want to get that too?"

"At least _I_ don't mind-"

_Ladies and gentlemen, we are now preparing for take-off. Please make sure your seats are in the upright position, your seatbelts fastened and all electronic devices. _

"But when you think about," Tara continued, "even _you_ had fun for once."

"Okay, you've got me there."

* * *

PS: Of course Mark and Tara win. They're kind and pure of heart and the main characters of this chap. (And if you watch anime, which is where I drew much inspiration from, these are the qualities that get you the win) 

Al: ...you put in a Sailor Moon dub song?

It's a GOOD dub song. I like that one.

Al: It's still Sailor Moon. And dubbed.

AND IT'S A GOOD SONG. (Rainy Day Man. It is. Really.)

Read and review. Next chappie is a short Collins drabble I wrote during class. Just to hold yinz guys over.


End file.
